Professor of Secrets
by StarFlight13
Summary: Teaching at a magic school called Hogwarts was the last thing Percy wanted. Especially when he and Annabeth have just got engaged. Naturally Harry is supicious of his powerful, yet odd American teacher, but what is he really? And where do Luna, Neville and Draco come in?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Wizards!?**

 **A/N: This is set two years after the Giant War and Literally just after the Battle of Hogwarts. Also George did not lose his ear and *spoiler* I am too nice to let Fred and the others die. Also, I botched up the timeline to make it fit, I know that Harry Potter is way before PJO but otherwise it wouldn't work. Percy is twenty and Harry is still seventeen. Oh, and I own nothing. Just throwing that out.**

The Battle of Hogwarts was over. Finally Harry triumphed over the Dark Lord but not without losses. The entire Weasley family grieved over Fred, while the rest of the Order cried over Tonks and Lupin. Many lives had been lost including, but not limited  
/to, Colin Creevey, Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore the year before.

Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall burst open and in limped...

"Professor Snape? Is that you?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Yes Harry, it is me," Snape replied wearily.

"But, you died. I saw you die,"

"No, you saw me fall, you did not see me die." Snape said, "I knew that the Dark Lord would try to kill me, so I drank a potion beforehand that would put me in a coma-like state when struck with the Killing Curse. My half-brother does a lot of necromancy  
/and the type, so he helped me develop it, however you need to really want to live to survive. I knew that a lot of people would be killed so I actually put it in everyone's drinks in Hogwarts and the Order. In fact, soon everyone will start to wake  
/up."

As Snape finished his speech a sharp intake of breath was heard. Everyone's heads swivelled around to see Fred sitting up, looking confused "Hey everyone, what did I miss?" He asked.

Immediately, George sprang up and gave Fred a massive bear hug before pulling away and slapping him across the face.

"Hey, what was that for?" Asked Fred indignantly.

"That was for making me think you were dead," George said, teary-eyed.

"Hey, ya' know you could never get rid of me." Fred replied cheekily "Besides if I died then how could you come up with so many stuff for the joke shop. You know I do all the work."

This shocked the rest of the Weasley's out of their stupor enough for Mrs Weasley to shout "Fred" and tackle him while the rest of them piled on top. Hermione ran up and hugged him too while Harry came up and slapped him on the back.

One by one, every single person lying in the Great Hall sat up and took a breath, alive and well. Tonks and Lupin sat up at exactly the same time and wrapped their arms around each other, crying in happiness.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand and a huge feast appeared on the four long house tables as everyone sat down on them, laughing and crying with their recovered family members. But, no one was sitting according to houses anymore. They were all mixed  
/together, Gryffindors and House Elves next to Slytherins and centaurs, all talking like they hadn't just been enemies, separated by an age old rivalry between the founders.

As soon as everyone had eaten their fill they took hold of their loved ones and took the Floo back to their respective homes and houses. Mrs Weasley invited the entire Order of the Phoenix to stay at The Burrow for the holidays.

Yes, thought Harry as he experienced the stomach-churning effects of floo powder, this was going to be a good summer...

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On the side of the world, at Camp Half-Blood, it is two years after the Giant War. Many things have changed. The two camps have merged together, with CHB now supporting Praetors (Percy and Annabeth) and Camp Jupiter now teaching Greek style fighting and  
/keeping Pegasi in the stables. Three weeks after Gaia's defeat, a speck had appeared on the horizon until it was identified as Festus with two people on his back. As soon as Leo had come in sight of camp he jumped up and started to dance. Unfortunately  
/Leo had been the only thing keeping Festus in the air which led to him spiralling out of control... Straight into the lake. Well, no one can say that Fate isn't artistic. As Percy put it, "I may hate the Fates with all my soul but at least they finished  
/it like they started it," then added as an afterthought, "but this time it's Leo and Calypso on a giant bronze dragon crashing into the lake not, ya' know, the other thing."

Although some people still hadn't got over the losses that they suffered, many have moved on and are enjoying life. Frank and Hazel got married a year and three quarters after the war and, as promised, Nico was the flower boy. So did Piper and Jason and  
/are expecting a baby in eight months. You might think they're a bit young, but come on, they flew half way across the world and fought a war together, of course they want to get married and have kids.

Nico and Will started dating after much prompting from the Aphrodite girls, led by Piper, and two months into the relationship blackmailed Chiron into turning a blind eye when they left to the Underworld or beach for a little 'quality time'.

Reyna asked Aphrodite about that little prophecy, _No demigod shall heal your heart,_ to which Aphrodite replied, "Oh that was just a little fun, I just wanted to see your reaction." Of course Aphrodite ended up with adagger buried in the wall  
next to her head and a daughter of Bellona chasing after her screaming bloody murder.

Percy and Annabeth were happy now. About a week ago Percy had proposed and Annabeth happily accepted her new fiancé. The only reason they hadn't got engaged earlier was because they were both suffering flashbacks of their time in Tartarus. They had stopped  
/a few months ago, leaving enough time for Percy to build up the nerve to ask Annabeth to marry him.

Percy sighed as he sat next to Annabeth by the lake. He loved having her by him.

"Are you okay?" Asked Annabeth.

"Yes" replied Percy. "It's just everything is so normal now. It reminds me of the good old days when we were harmless teenagers running around the country and blowing up famous monuments."

"We were hardly harmless" joked Annabeth. "In fact we were probably even more dangerous back then."

Percy threw back his head and laughed, "can't argue with that logic Wise Girl." They leaned together and shared a long, deep kiss. They were interrupted by a loud cough from behind.

"What?" Asked Percy, annoyed. He turned to see a scrawny Latino demigod grinning from ear to ear.

"Break it up lovebirds" Leo crowed. "As much as it is amusing to see you two kiss by the lake, Chiron wants to see Percy at the Big House."

"It's not like you haven't done this with Calypso" Percy grumbled. "I saw you making out in the fire once."

Leo blushed deep red, "that's because the Aphrodite campers wouldn't leave us alone!" He yelled.

Percy shrugged, "whatever flies your dragon. Annabeth, I gotta go. I'll be back soon. Hopefully. I hope it's not a quest."

"See you Seaweed Brain." Annabeth replied. "Now go. Chiron won't want you to be late." Percy grinned and took of in the direction of the Big House.

{~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~}

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You mean to tell me that there are wizards and they have just come out of a war with Lord Moldy-Shorts and his Thanatos-Eaters, and don't have anyone to teach them at their school for magic Hogwarts, and you want me to go and do it  
/because there might still be some bad guys trying to kill Harry Potter because he defeated the big evil guy multiple times and I am the best choice and I will receive a blessing and a wand from Hecate who created this world in the first place and  
/Annabeths much older sister Minerva will be Headmistress there and so will Severus who was disowned and hidden because he was a son of Hades and I will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. That's your reason for sending me there?"

Chiron sighed wearily, "yes Percy. You just managed to summarise an entire hours worth of explanations in one breath."

Percy gaped and asked, "how will Hecate bless me?"

"I believe she can answer that." Chiron replied. Some mist - no wait, The Mist - started to gather and out came a beautiful woman wearing a Greek style tunic and hair braided above her head. By her side was a Labrador and a... Weasel? Well that's new.

"Hello," she said in a soft, mystical voice. "I must thank you for agreeing to take on this role." The weasel next to her made a squawking noise and passed gas.

"Wait, I never agreed to this Ms. Mystical, and I absolutely refuse to be a wizard if I have to walk around with a farting weasel." Percy replied with his usual sassiness.

Hecate looked annoyed, "do not call me Ms. Mystical young man. And Gale is a Polecat, not a weasel."

"Gale? How fitting." Percy sniggered as Hecate made an annoyed clicking sound.

"This is not the time," Hecate said. "I will infuse into your brain all the necessary knowledge you shall need. The more powerful a demigod, the more powerful the wizard."

"How will I get to England," asked Percy.

"You will be flying of course," replied Hecate

Percy paled, "no no no no no no. No. No. Noooooo-"

"I get it," interrupted Hecate. "You don't want to fly. Zeus said he'll try and not blast you out the sky."

"That's so very comforting," Percy grumbled. "Do I have to go? I just got engaged for crying out loud. Do I not get any free time at all? Besides, I'm a twenty-year old demigod with ADHD and dyslexia. What makes you think I'm the best choice?"

Hecate sighed heavily, "like I said before, you are the most powerful demigod and I know that if anyone is in danger then you will be a good teacher. And before you ask you don't have a choice and you should pack and say goodbye to everyone as well as  
/your fiancé."

Percy looked at Chiron pleadingly. Chiron just shrugged. Percy sighed as well. Why? He thought. Why do I have to do this now? He trudged out of the big house feeling very dejected.

{~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~} {~}

After telling Annabeth about the quest (which resulted in a screaming Annabeth then a crying one in less than a minute. What was with that?) he travelled with Argus in a camp van to the airport to board a plane. During the security check Percy was scared  
/out his mind. He walked up the the gates where a young blond man was checking passports.

"Hey," the man greeted. "You should feel lucky that old daddy Zeus allowed you to fly."

Percy looked at him quizzically, "Apollo?" He asked

The man grinned and winked."Call me Fred. I feel a haiku coming on." He cleared his throat. "You will soon fly high, you should feel very honoured, I am so awesome." He spread out his hands like he was expecting a massive round of applause and wagged  
/his eyebrows.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't be surprised. You are the sun. And thank you for that enlightening haiku." Percy handed him his ticket and stepped onto the plane. Albeit reluctantly.

Percy sat down and clenched his fists onto the armrests tightly. Many hours and a lot of turbulence later, the plane touched down in Great Britain. Percy all but ran from the plane and to baggage claim, collapsing on a bench just as the suitcases started  
/to come out. Percy slowly and shakily got up and retrieved his blue Finding Nemo suitcase and his darker blue The Little Mermaid one.

Dragging them behind he looked around until his eyes landed on a red haired man who was looking around in wonder and holding a sign with PERSEUS JACKSON written on upside down.

Percy groaned and went towards him. _Wizards_ , He thought, _Here I come._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I own nothing. All characters belong to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan

Percy felt very uncomfortable the entire journey, not least because Mr Weasley was asking so many questions about perfectly ordinary things like lampposts and chimneys. Which made no sense because he had a long thin chimney on his house.

When they FINALLY arrived, Percy gawked at the rickety building that seemed like it would fall down at any second. It seemed like it was held up by magic. Oh wait, it probably was.

Mr Weasley parked the car and hopped out, Percy closely following.

"Sweet Home, good," said Mr Weasley. Percy raised his eyebrows.

"Don't you mean 'Home, Sweet Home'?" He asked.

He walked up to the door and knocked. Even before he had touched the door a second time, it opened up to a plump, redheaded woman.

"Oh, do come in dear," she said. "You must be the new teacher. I'm Molly Weasley, your host. Goodness where are my manners? Come this way please, you're much too thin."

The door slammed shut behind them just as Mr Weasley was entering.

"Molly, can you let me in?" Mr Weasley's voice floated from the other side of the door. "You see I'm on the wrong side. I should be on the side you're on."

"Oh put a sock in it!" Mrs Weasley shouted. "Are you a wizard or not?"

"Ah. Fair point."

Percy tried to disguise a chuckle as a cough but failed. Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes at her husband and started herding Percy towards the dining room where everyone was eating dinner.

All conversation stopped as Percy entered the room, Mrs Weasley close behind. Apart from Ron. He continued stuffing his face with food. Ginny and Hermione were practically drooling at this new persons good looks. But of course Percy was completely oblivious. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Err. Hi," _wow, real smooth Percy._ "I'm Professor Jackson and I'm going to teach at Hogwarts in the post as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. I'm American."

"Buh wiv fimit hol," Ron choked, bits of food flying out his mouth.

"Ronald, don't talk with your mouth full. It's bad manners," Hermione scolded. Harry chuckled at their relationship. Ron chewed furiously then swallowed.

"I said, but we've finished school."

"No you didn't, you spent the last year gallivanting around and destroying dark lords," Mrs Weasley corrected. "And even if you did go to school then you'd have to return. All the students are taking the last year again because of the Carrows and stupid Death Eaters. No one got the necessary schooling that year and therefore must take it again."

Fred and George laughed at Ron's disbelieving face. "Ha ha," they spoke simultaneously. "We're older than you and we're finished." They stuck out their tongues at Ron.

"Actually no," Mrs Weasley interrupted. "You have to take seventh year. Professor McGonagall said that you have to at least finish seventh year. There might be some spells that would benefit your joke shop. And besides, we don't know how many rogue Death Eaters there are running around and you must have at least another year of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Percy awkwardly coughed as Mrs Weasley stopped chewing out her sons.

"Can you please show me my room?" He asked. "Sorry but I'm kinda jet lagged from the trip."

"Harry dear," Mrs Weasley said. "Could you please show Professor Jackson to his room. I've added one next to Ron's. Thank you."

Harry dragged himself up and walked towards the Professor. Professor Jackson reached down and picked up his two suitcases. As he reached down his sleeve slipped, revealing his SPQR tattoo.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw the mark but Professor Jackson pulled his sleeve down before Harry could get a proper look.

Harry glanced over his shoulder at Ron and by his face you could tell Ron saw it. Hermione and Ginny seemed to be fawning over the Professor while Fred and George were still paralysed from the shock of having to go to school.

 _Maybe it's nothing,_ Harry thought. _After all, what kind of Death Eater has a_ Finding Nemo _suitcase?_

\- Page Break -

The next morning. Mrs Weasley called everyone down to breakfast. Harry dragged himself out of bed and walked downstairs with Ron to find everyone already downstairs.

"Ahh Harry, Ron. Now your here do have some breakfast. We'll be taking the Floo to Diagonal Alley." Said Mrs Weasley.

Ron immediately ran to the table and started scoffing his breakfast. The girls scowled at Ron's table manners while Professor Jackson looked on with interest.

"Now I know why Annabeth always scolded me when I was eating," he muttered.

Once everyone finished breakfast Fred and George took the Floo powder first, then Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Percy, Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley. In that order.

Harry expected the Professor to be a little surprised at Diagon Alley, after all it was the place that most wizards all over Britain came to get supplies. Surprisingly though he seemed completely at ease. The Professor was lost in thought at something.

"This reminds me of the summer camp I go to," he mused under his breath. "Actually it reminds me more of our rival summer camps hidden city but we patched our differences a few years ago. Then again it is a lot like some poky backstreets of the Italian towns I visited back then."

Harry shook his head. Summer camp? Hidden city? Italian towns? Weird.

While Harry pondered the significance of this, the group had already reached Gringotts. Professor Jackson seemed completely unfazed at the grandeur of the wizarding bank. Maybe he had things like this in America.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in reluctantly first. The goblins working at the desks glanced up and scowled at them with anger. Note to self, never break into this bank again. The goblins carry a grudge.

Their attention was diverted of them as Professor Jackson entered. The goblins were looking at him with awe, reverence and was that _fear?_ Another mark against him. Harry sent him a questioning look.

"I've seen stranger," he replied. That's not what Harry was asking but sure.

"Hello," the goblin at the desk said. "Mr Potter, you would like to visit your vault I assume. Miss Granger, Bogrod shall exchange some muggle money at that desk. Weasley family can visit your vault too. And-" he gasped loudly. "Lord Perseus. You want to go to your families vault too? It's 0001. The first created."

The Weasleys and Harry looked at Professor Jackson curiously. Hermione had already gone to change her money.

"My father and his side of the family are very rich in America," Professor Jackson said as way of explanation. "You have probably never heard of them though and I hate when people do that."

The goblin at the desk nodded and beckoned them all to follow one of the goblins through a door and into two carts.

The cart twisted and turned in the dark tunnels, occasional being lit up by ever-burning torches, until it arrived at the Weasley vault. For the contributions in the war, Mr Weasley had been given a pay rise and they now had much more money than before. Mrs Weasley collected a bag of Galleons and sickles and climbed back into the cart.

It set off again. Right, left, left, right, right, left, right, left, until they were completely and utterly lost.

The cart ground to a stop at Harry's vault. Even after seven years there was still a small fortune. Harry took out his mokeskin bag which had miraculously survived the rough camping that Harry had gone on the year before, and filled it till it fit no more.

Now they only had the Professors to visit. Harry found the cart going deeper and deeper. They rounded a bend and Harry could see the place where the dragon had escaped when they broke into the Lestrange vault. Harry felt the tiniest bit guilty that they let it go but that feeling was quickly swept away as they passed by.

The track started to get steeper and steeper until it was almost vertical. Ginny screamed and Hermione joined in. Ron was throwing up over the side while Mr and Mrs Weasley clutched each other unashamedly. Harry held onto the side of the cart with white hands while his stomach felt like it was going to empty itself soon.

Percy however looked as though he was just taking a casually stroll, leaning back and whistling although his eyes betrayed excitement and thrill.

The cart jolted and levelled out before stopping dead while still travelling at fifty miles per hour. Ginny felt faint as she stumbled out, head still spinning. Ron was still emptying his stomach over the side and Hermione was half-heartedly scolding him.

"This is why you shouldn't have eaten so much at breakfast. It's all gone to waste now."

Harry's knuckles were white as snow and beginning to ache. He slowly unclasped his hands and inspected them for any injuries. None to be seen. Phew.

Percy leapt out, feeling not ill or faint but rather excited. "Let's do that again!" He shouted.

"Let's not," choked out Ron between retches. "That was awful. Why is your vault even down here?"

Percy shrugged walking forward to a massive carved door. It had pictures of gods and famous demigods. Right in the centre was a carving of him fighting Kronos on top of seven teenagers standing shoulder to shoulder. Beneath that was Leo on Festus as he carried Gaia up into the air before killing himself to put her back to sleep. Lucky he had the cure.

Percy reached up and brushed the carving of himself gently with his hand. The massive door suddenly started spinning, opening slowly in a star shape. Percy stepped inside to see mountains on mountains of gold. The amount of riches there made Harry's vault look like some savings in a piggybank.

Harry's jaw dropped as he gazed in. He didn't know there was so much gold in the world let alone his new teachers vault.

"How- where did you get all that gold?" Harry stuttered.

"My fathers family is rich like I said before," he answered, muttering, "show-offs."

Harry swore he heard thunder boom, even from this far underground. He made a mental note to ask Hermione about it once they got back.

While Harry was lost in thought, Percy had grabbed many galleons and some drachmas to Iris Message before leaving, dragging Harry out behind him.

Percy settled into the cart as the rest of the Weasleys and Harry reluctantly got in too. The cart started up, not going quite as fast as before but still at breakneck speed.

When it finally stopped back at the surface, they found Hermione and went to collect books. Naturally Hermione wanted to stay in the bookshop for ages but by general consent was dragged out to go to Eeylops' Owl Emporium.

Percy looked through the window apprehensively. He saw the owner of the shop bent over the counter. Then she looked up. Startling grey eyes and brown hair. Athena.

Percy quickly backed off. He did not want to get into another argument about Annabeth.

"Uhhh, I think I'll go to the Magical Menagerie instead. The Eeylops' Owl Emporium owner and I don't get soon very well. She'll probably turn me into an insect," he muttered the last part.

Everyone else shrugged and entered the store. Percy glanced through the window to see Athena smirking at him. He shivered and walked over to the Magical Menagerie.

The bell jingled as he entered and many different animal noises were heard. Percy walked up to the desk where the owner was rubbing his forehead looking frazzled while a blue bird in a cage squawked loud enough to go deaf. Percy winced and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson, I'm the new professor at Hogwarts," he said. The owners head shot up.

"Your full name doesn't happen to be Perseus, does it?" He asked. Percy nodded slowly. "Oh thank goodness!" The shop owner exclaimed. "There's an extremely rare Water Phoenix that was delivered to me with a note saying it was for Perseus Jackson, the new Professor. There was also an envelope but it was expressly addressed to you. This bird has been driving me crazy. It won't shut up!"

Percy would have laughed at the look on his face was it not for the shrieking of the bird. He looked at it carefully, scrutinising it with his green eyes. It looked rather like a swan with its long neck and large wings with gold edging. The bird suddenly went quiet and stared back with quiet intelligence.

 _Hello My Lord,_ it said telepathically. _Why are you here?_

Percy started in surprise, _How can I understand you?_ He asked inside his head. _And don't call me your Lord. I'm Percy._

 _I'm a water bird am I not?_ The Phoenix replied. _And you are a son of the Sea God, yes? Your father has a message for you._

Percy reached for the envelope and opened it.

 _Dear Percy,_ it said.

 _Well done so far with your mission. I hope you like your new messenger. Her name is Nerida, meaning mermaid in Greek. From Poseidon._

Percy smiled and picked up Nerida's cage. Nerida squawked happily and playfully nicked his ear. Percy smiled and left the relieved shopkeeper.

He met the others outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They were sitting round a table waiting for his return.

"Hi Professor," called Hermione. "We were just waiting for you. The Eeylops' shopkeeper was very nice. Said her name was A. She was very interested in intelligence. You'd like that being a professor and all. Also nice bird you've got there. Is it a Water Phoenix? Those are very rare. I heard that-"

She was cut off by Ron who put his hand over her mouth. "We don't all want to know this 'Mione," he said.

Percy chuckled. "I know A. She doesn't approve of me though. And yes, I do have a Water Phoenix. Present from my dad. Her name is Nerida. Shouldn't we be going?"

Mr Weasley nodded and brought out some Floo powder to return to the Burrow. "Let's go soldiers. Arm yourself with those pencils that shoot out little balls that look like owl pellets!"

Percy sniggered behind his hand while Hermione opened her mouth to correct him but before she could he threw some of the powder into the fireplace of the ice cream shop and disappeared in a flash.

"They're called guns," muttered Hermione under her breath. "And they're nothing to joke about."

Ron shrugged and took some powder too, jumping into the fire before he got a lecture. Hermione huffed as everyone followed him. Lastly jumping in herself.

 **Okay, so I just want to say thank you for all the support this story is getting. I honestly didn't think it would be worth reading, let alone following, favouriting or reviewing. Thanks to: Kim(guest), roxy-Solangelo, Penny-Lu, Aviendhaphiragon, jeangary28, LieutenantofChaos17 and bella221122.**

 **Also I seem to have a hater already. To Matt(guest): one, get your grammar right, don't say 'your too stupid at stories' because that doesn't make any sense. Two, I am writing on an iPad not a computer. Three, back to grammar; I can't 'lose all you get amnesia' because, sweetie, that doesn't make sense either. Four, I would never delete this story because it is purely for fun and I don't care what you think. Five, if I sold my iPad then my mum would go ballistic. Lastly, if you're going to write horrible reviews then I would appreciate if you used my full name, StarFlight13. It makes me happy.**

 **IMPORTANT! Matt(guest) also mentioned that Nico is gay in his review. I only mentioned anything about Nico in a relationship because I want him to be happy. If it makes you happy then imagine Solangelo instead. This fact will have very little to do with anything in the future of this story. Even though Nico does make an appearance. Also I'm British so to all you Americans I may spell things a bit differently.**

 **Star, xoxo.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I own nothing

A few days later, it was the morning to board the Hogwarts Express. There was a mad rush in the Weasley household as everyone scrambled to get their equipment. Fred aparated downstairs into the kitchen where Mrs Weasley was cooking.

"FRED! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU SCARED THE LIFE OUT OF ME!" Mrs Weasley yelled that of course.

Then Ron aparated down as well, to get to breakfast quicker. Unfortunately he missed and landed on Ginny who was dragging her trunk down the stairs.

"So unfair," Ginny grumbled from underneath. "We never learned to do that last year. The ministry was scared that we would 'use this skill to spread disorder.'" She made quotation marks with her hands.

Ron grinned. "Ha. We did it. You're the only one in the family who can't now. You'll probably learn it this year. Now let's get breakfast!" He disappeared with a crack, only to miss again and land on Mrs Weasley. Cue the yelling.

Ginny gingerly climbed to her feet muttering about mean elder brothers who teased their poor sister about not knowing how to do something.

Harry stumbled into the dining room with his hair sticking up at all angles. He hadn't even brushed it yet.

As soon as Harry entered, Mr Weasley - who was going to take them to Kings Cross - started bombarding him with questions what plugs or eckelecity was.

Professor Jackson was watching with bewilderment. "Reminds me of my friends and I when we were travelling the world. Either Coach Hedge or Leo would always wake us us up with megaphones, explosions or random noises. By the way, where is George?"

Harry shrugged and sat down to eat. Big mistake. George burst into the room, accompanied by firecrackers that would darted under his bottom as he sat down and then let off a shower of sparks and a hideous smell. Needless to say that Harry was not pleased.

"Whooooooo!" Shouted George. "How'd ya' like my new invention Fred my boy. I call them 'Fart-Crackers'. And you say you come up with all the joke shop ideas."

Fred leapt to his feet and grinned madly. "George, my not-as-awesome-as-me brother. I like your idea but we should probably hide them before mum blows up. At Hogwarts, Minnie said we could use the Room of Requirement to make our products. We need to be stocked."

Mrs Weasley was turning red now. "PUT THEM AWAY NOW! And who's 'Minnie'?"

"Well-" started George.

"She's actually-" continued Fred.

"Professor McGonagall-"

"But we call her Minnie-"

"Because her first names Minerva-"

"But that's too long-"

"And annoying-"

"To say." They both finished. Percy laughed.

"Ha! You call Minerva 'Minnie'," he said. "Wow, your lucky you're alive if you said that to her face. I called her that once and she almost killed me."

Fred and George laughed along with him. Mrs Weasley looked like she was about to burst, Harry looked overwhelmed by the amount of questions Mr Weasley was still throwing at him, Ron's face was (unsurprisingly) buried in food while Hermione and Ginny looked at each other with identical disgusted expressions at his lack of table manners.

Needless to say it was a while before everyone was sorted out enough to pile into the brand new red car that Mr Weasley had bought and charmed with an undetectable extension charm. Everyone was quite comfortable with Percy, Mr and Mrs Weasley in the front (Mr Weasley had added another seat so Percy didn't have to sit with the kids), Harry sitting next to Ron and Hermione behind the adults with Ginny between Fred and George in the back.

A few times there was heard an explosion from the twins followed by a shriek from Ginny or a flash of colour followed by a shriek from Ginny, at one time a horrible smell was let off followed by a groan from said Ginny.

Naturally when they arrived at Kings Cross everyone was relieved, no one more so than the girl who had to put up with the Fred and George's crazy joke shop items the entire trip.

They all grabbed a trolley and loaded their trunks onto them. They all got some very strange looks. After all, they had owls and broomsticks with them, who wouldn't be suspicious.

After they all got through the barrier (Nerida hooted very loudly when they were about to make contact. Percy winced. She had said some very unflattering words), they stood on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters surrounded by steam from the train, students and parents hugging and saying goodbye as well as the squawking of hundreds of owls. Mrs Weasley had tears in her eyes as she looked at the children.

"Be good," she said, fussing over the children. "Don't get into trouble. I'm talking to you two Fred and George," she pointed at the twins who were whistling innocently. "Don't go into the Forbidden Forest and for goodness sake be safe. It's your last year Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George. Make it count. And Ginny darling, make sure to study hard so that you are ready for exams. That applies to the rest of you as well."

"We'll be okay mum," protested Ron. "No need to baby us."

"Ooooooh," muttered Fred to his twin. "He's gonna get it now. No one questions mums mothering skills. We learned that the hard way."

"Well excuse me for wanting to do the best for my children," said Mrs Weasley, hands on hips. "You have a knack for getting into trouble. Remember when you drove the car into the Whomping Willow in your second year? Or the Basilisk? Or the Dementors? Or the Triwizard Tournament? Every year you do something dangerous. You will at least _try_ to stay out of everything this year!" By now she was shouting into Ron's ear.

"Okay, okay," said Ron. "You don't have to shout."

Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Hermione.

"We need to go," Hermione said.

"Yeah, let's find a compartment," Harry backed up. The twins offered their input too.

"We're gonna-"

"Go find-"

"Lee. He said-"

"He has some-"

"Ideas for the-"

"Joke shop."

They grabbed their trunks and ran off to find their friend. Percy shrugged.

"I'm going too. I'm gonna find Minerva and Severus. It's been ages. I can't believe they teach here. I always knew Severus was some kind of sorcerer what with his weird concoctions, I never knew about Minerva though. I still don't know why she permanently dyed her hair brown..." He trailed off as he lifted his trunks without breaking a sweat and wandered off.

This left the rest of them standing awkwardly until they heard the five minute whistle to board. They went off in their little group, Ginny breaking off to find her friends once they were in the corridor.

The Golden Trio found an empty compartment halfway down the train. They sat down just as the whistle blew and the train started moving.

"So what do you think about Professor Jackson?" Asked Harry.

"He's amazing," said Hermione. "He is so hot. Windswept hair, lovely eyes, perfect tan..." She petered off at the memory, sounding uncharacteristically girly.

"Pfft. He not that good," said Ron.

"You only say that because your jealous," accused Hermione. "Just because he's good looking."

"I am not jealous," denied Ron. "You just can't see past his looks. And he isn't _that_ good-looking."

Hermione was about to retort scathingly but was interrupted by Harry. "Whoa there guys," he said. "Stop arguing. I heard your opinions."

"Fine," said Hermione. "Then what do you think about him."

"Well..." Started Harry. "I think he's a bit suspicious. I mean, come on. He just appears out of nowhere to teach us after a war in which he wasn't fighting on our side as far as I know. Also I thought there was only a tiny if no population of wizards and witches in America. For all he says, he could be a Death Eater."

Ron looked thoughtful, "I think Harry's right. I remember when he first arrived he lifted his suitcases and I caught a glimpse of his forearm. There was a black mark there. Harry saw it too but we didn't see it clearly enough. Also he always wears long sleeved tops. Don't you think that's a tiny bit suspicious?"

Hermione obviously wasn't comfortable with this topic, "okay, but we don't know for certain. I'll side with you on this one but only because you're my best friends and we don't know much about him."

"Yes," agreed Harry. "Remember he kept mentioning that his family was rich? Plus, Ron, you saw his family vault. It made mine look like a five-year olds savings."

"You never told me that," said Hermione.

"Sorry," apologised Harry. "It kinda slipped my mind. But I think we are all agreed that we need to look into this and get him to spill."

They all nodded and agreed. The next seven hours were spent quickly, playing exploding snap and eating chocolate frogs. Ron ripped the wrapper off one card and jaw was dropped when it had Harry on! Harry just blushed when it was brought up. He was nothing if not modest.

Soon enough the train was grinding to a halt in Hogsmeade and students were pouring out of the train and into the carriages. The first years walked nervously over to Hagrid and stood in front.

After the war, many people could see the Thestrals. Many Death Eaters had died, even if none of the people fighting against them had.

Percy walked up to the skeletal horses cautiously. He was glad to be out of the train, even if Minerva and Severus were there. They were both demigods. Minerva was a daughter of Athena and an extremely clever wizard who knew about Roman mythology but not Greek. He named his child Minerva because he said she was that clever. Severus was a son of Hades but was disowned and hidden at birth, stripped of any godly powers. Because of this the prophecy could not refer to him.

While growing up they had been raised by wizards and so protected from monsters. Plus in Britain there were less. Well, generally. Severus's scent was completely erased but Minerva's was just as strong as any other daughter of Athena. In fact, she had been a star Quidditch player before a monster attack meant she had to give it up.

Anyway, although the train ride had been fun, Percy's ADHD had made it hard to stay still. Even when Minerva cast a spell to make it les potent. So imagine his surprise when the horses talked.

 _Hello My Lord,_ one said. _My name is Bone._

 _Don't call me Lord,_ Percy replied. Just Percy is fine.

Bone started to bow. _Of course My- I mean Percy._

 _Stop bowing,_ Percy ordered. _I'm undercover._

Bone stood straight and tall. They were beginning to get some odd looks.

Harry, Ron and Hermione meanwhile were watching the Professor with interest. They saw his eyes go glazed as he engaged in his mental conversation with the thestral but thought nothing of it.

The three of them climbed onto a carriage which moved off. They rounded a bend and got their first view of Hogwarts since the last year.

The tall towers and carved arches looked as imposing as ever, flickering torches adorning the walls and casting light on the stone. The trees of the Forbidden Forest leaned in close together, shadows filling in the gaps, daring anyone to enter..

Harry shuddered involuntarily. The thestrals drew to a stop and let the passengers clamber out. Everyone filed into the Great Hall, lit by a thousand floating candles.

All the teachers were already there and sitting on the front table. Professor McGonagall was sitting in the middle as Headmistress while Professor Flitwick was getting the first years.

The first years filed into the hall, mouths hanging open. Ron nudged Harry and pointed to Professor Jackson. He was fidgeting with a pen and looking very uncomfortable.

Professor McGonagall sent him a look. He sat up straight and tried to look professional. Hermione giggled. That's right giggled. What was going on?

The first years nervously stepped forward, from:

"Angell, Sasha,"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And, "Davies, Emily."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Down to, "Stephen, Thomas."

"RAVENCLAW!"

And "Toberman, Priya."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron looked at the empty plates yearningly. Obviously he was only thinking about food. When is he not?

Harry snapped out of his thoughts to hear Professor McGonagall doing the beginning-of-the-year speech.

"-and to introduce Professor Jackson from America. He will be taking Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. There might be some notable differences."

Professor Jackson stood up. Many girls swooned.

"Hi, my name's Professor Jackson," he started. "Like Min- Professor McGonagall said I will teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts this year and-" he broke off as his eyes landed on Luna. Her eyes widened in surprise. She motioned with her head towards the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables. Neville and Malfoy looked equally surprise. Percy tried to cover his mistake quickly.

"-I hope you enjoy this year," he finished abruptly and sat down. Everyone clapped as the food appeared. Although mostly for the food than the professor.

Noise erupted as everyone dug into their meal. Harry looked at Professor Jackson suspiciously, wondering why he had to cover up his mistake.

The Professor, Luna, Neville and Draco were sending looks at each other. If Harry read their expressions right then they wanted to meet after the feast. He glanced at Ron and Hermione and could see they had drawn the same conclusion.

In true Ron style Ron said, "Professor Jackson hasn't started eating yet. Wonder why."

Of course this led to Hermione rolling her eyes at his liking for food. Professor Jackson looked around nervously.

 _I wonder why?_ Thought Harry. His question was answered when the professor brought out his wand and waved it. A burning brazier appeared into which he scraped the best bit of his food. Whispers started flying and Ron's mouth opened, flabbergasted.

"And I wrong or did he just burned the best part of his food?" Asked Ron. "He just burned his food. Why did he burn his food? He just wasted perfectly good food! Why?!"

Ron's voice slowly got louder until he was almost shouting. Hermione covered her ears with her hands.

"Be quiet Ronald," she scolded. "It's probably just a religion. Which religion? I don't know."

Ron closed his mouth with a snap. As far as he was concerned the Professor had just lost any good points he had so far.

"But why and how does Professor Jackson know those three students in particular?" Hermione mused. "It is a bit odd if you think about it. Neville and Luna have never mentioned anything and that Death Eater scum Malfoy wouldn't know any half-blood like the professor. In fact they look like they know each other from somewhere else. But where? Who is Professor Jackson really? What does he know about Luna, Neville and Malfoy? When have they-"

Ron cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth. "Blimey it seems I'm doing a lot of shutting you up 'Mione. We get the idea. The professor knows two of our best friends and our worst enemy. He's evil. Now can we eat?"

Hermione grumbled under her breath and started to eat. Soon the feast was over and everyone filed out to go to bed, following the prefects. Ron and Hermione had been replaced the last year and as a result had no duties to attend to.

Luna, Neville and Draco sent a look to each other which did not go unnoticed by the Golden Trio.

Harry pointed to his invisibility cloak which was stashed under his robes. _Let's follow them,_ he mouthed, pointing to the Professor, Luna, Neville and Draco who had stood up at the same time.

The three of them silently agreed to follow Neville as he's a fellow Gryffindor. Neville joined the throng of students heading up to the Gryffindor tower but carefully detached himself when no one was watching.

Harry glanced at his friends on either side of him and they steered themselves out of the crowd, throwing the invisibility cloak over themselves behind a suit of armour (but bending down to fit underneath because they have grown so tall).

Neville continued down the corridors until he came to an empty classroom (although to be fair all the classrooms were empty). He walked inside, the door creaking shut behind him.

As far as Harry saw inside before the door shut, was Luna, Neville and the Professor standing already there. All he could wonder however was how on earth they knew to meet here of all places. Muffled voices came from behind the door.

"Damn," whispered Harry. "We can't hear them."

"Uh. I have some extendable ears if you want," offered Ron.

"Where'd ya' get those?" Asked Harry. Ron looked embarrassed yet proud.

"I nicked 'em from Fred and George. Good thing I did too."

"Give me those," said Hermione, snatching them away. "I'm going to let it out."

She unwound the ears and let one end wiggle towards the door. It slipped under - don't ask me how, they were much too big - and the voices became clear.

"Ave, Praetor!" Three voices identified as Neville, Luna and Draco said. Hermione looked puzzled. It was a different language, but which?

"I knew you went to a boarding school in Britain," replied the professor. "But I certainly did not think it would be this one."

Hermione's face wore a triumphant grin. "So they do know each other," she said. "Now it's just how they do."

Draco's voice was the next one. "Should we address you as Praetor, or should we just call you professor?"

"Don't call me Praetor," replied Professor Jackson. "It will arouse too much suspicion."

The ear picked up a small scuffling noise like a sleeve being rolled back, heaven knows how.

"Wow, Drake," Professor Jackson comments. "You must have gotten the mark just before term started. I didn't see you when I visited Camp. Well done."

Draco's voice was practically leaking pride as he replied. "Yes. I'm a full member now. The sixth cohort was so proud. Centurion Hazel said I did my parents and Nemesis proud. Thank you. I got it for killing some monsters that were about to kill my friends."

Hermione, Ron and Harry's eyes widened at the same time. Being mortals meant the mist made them think that Draco had said 'muggles' instead of monsters. Naturally they were denying it.

"We probably misheard," Hermione insisted. "Malfoy may be evil but he wouldn't kill an innocent muggle. Besides, Neville and Luna would never be in the company of a murderer."

They turned back to the conversation inside to hear Luna finishing her sentence.

"-half sister. You know I still can't believe that Minerva is. She's my teacher and sister. How annoying. Sorry, off-track. How are you treating Annabeth? She's my half sister too. Is that rumour that you proposed to her true? Did she accept?"

Professor Jackson chuckled. "Yup, it's true and she did accept. Your sister is now my fiancé and you know that I would never hurt her. Or let anything happen to her. I think I'm being a bit overprotective. Oh well. And did you know that all the owls hate me because of your and her mother. Minerva's owl almost killed me!"

They all three laughed like they were old friends. "Did you know that in first year Draco cursed my legs together. I had to hop up to the tower!" Exclaimed Neville.

"Yeah, sorry about that," apologised Draco. "My dad told me about you and then Potter defended you and considering my mum's Nemesis, it wasn't surprising that I wanted revenge."

"S'all right," said Neville. "I understand."

"Guys," broke in Professor Jackson. "You need to return to your various common rooms soon. It's almost curfew. And by the way, the Gryffindor password is 'victory', the Slytherin's is 'repentance' and of course you have to answer a riddle to get to Ravenclaw's."

"Do we have to?" Whined Neville. Weird. He's not the kind of person to whine.

"Okay then," said the professor. "If that won't work then... Neville Longbottom, legacy of Ceres and member of the newly formed Sixth Cohort of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, is hereby ordered to go to bed by the will of Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon and the Praetor of your opposing camp and honorary Praetor of your actual camp."

"Why d'ya pick on me?" Neville asked, obvious annoyance in his voice. Luna and Draco started laughing again, probably at Neville.

"That goes for you too Mr Son of Nemesis and Miss Daughter of Athena," the professor chided. The three in question mumbled a yes and placed their hands on the door knob to leave.

Hermione quickly reeled in the extendable ear. "We'll talk in the morning. We need to go."

They rushed off just as Luna opened the door and left.

 **Wow.**

 **I have got to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You guys are so supportive and nice. Thank you for reassuring me against my hater Matt. I agree with DeadlyXDevil, if I have a hater, I must be doing something right.**

 **I have to thank everyone for your supportive reviews. So many of you have written saying to continue to update and loads of you have followed and favourited which I am incredibly happy about. Thanks all you guys: DeadlyXDevil, TheFallenAce15, artemis657, Brie03127, papaye2010, Chini y Hina, Arkyz66, LoofaWolf, Death The End, KorinaDragonClaw, shiningsilverwolf, T101, mlmary57, Cassie Ruesch, kat-was-here431, The dragons cursed flame, spell checker 11111, Naomi-lou, NeverAndSarcastic, MaxandThalia, Silverphoenix4, .Girl, jso3647, Thalia-Saran, bella221122, LieutenantofChaos17, gsunny6, kekavicky, Talk-Becky-Talk, aveave, PhilyraRaven, jeangary28, LizBissofCampHalfBlood, giraffesplaycello, Aviendhaphiragon, Demi-Fae, meadowlamb24, D love, Nimthiriel Miluiel, SleepyDragonsGirl, llulluca, , Skylar04, FrankZtheArrowhead, Reader-0016, Hetalian Daughter of Hades, kdp, wkjjfht825, Dreamwalker66, Joce17, GryffindorPosidens Divergents, awesomesmile and PixelUp.**

 **That's a lot of people. I apologise if I've either repeated your name or missed you out. Also, reply to any reviews. Thanks to Brie13127 and Wolfgirl2377(guest) for your reviews. To giraffesplaycello, Guest and and Unknown girl 345(guest) for encouraging me against my hater.**

 **TheFallenAce15: IMPORTANT! You asked why Athena has time to stay in the owl shop. Remember in TLO when Percy meets Dionysus? Dionysus said that gods could have many different forms at once. They are only as one person when they reveal their true form. Athena probably only had part of her essence in England while the rest is in America doing whatever gods do. You also said that shouldn't the gods have no power outside the US. If you've ever read Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods, it said that once Dionysus tried to invade India when the Heart of the West was in Greece. Also when in Alaska Percy still had his water powers. My theory is that the gods can't directly influence Alaska but do have their powers on a much smaller scale once inside the borders. Poseidon rules the oceans, most of which are not around America. I'm sure part of Athena could have gotten to England somehow. Besides, gods are all over the world. After all, the South Wind - Auster/Notus - had a palace on the north coast of Africa in House of Hades. Thanks for your review and opinion on Matt. Thanks.**

 **If I have made a mistake then can you please nicely tell me in a review. All meanies, haters, Death Eaters and monsters have to call me by my full name, StarFlight13, and everyone else can just call me Star. Wow what a long Authors Note.**

 **As I'm publishing this it's Christmas Day! So I want to say a Very Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers and followers and hope you have a lovely day. I'm hoping for Percy Jackson and the Demigod Diaries, Percy Jackson the Ultimate guide and The Complete Stories and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Hope you have a great day!**

 **MERRY XMAS! ? ?**

 **Star, xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

I own nothing. If I was JK or Uncle Rick I would have used the profits by now to make a doomsday weapon. Uhh, pretend I didn't say anything.

Harry woke up with a mop of red hair in his face. He shot up and knocked into Ron's head. Ron stumbled away, clutching his forehead.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Wha' d'ya mean?" Harry replied groggily. "I wake up to find you staring in my face. Who wouldn't be surprised?"

"You didn't have to crack my skull though! I'm hungry and I want breakfast."

Harry rolled his eyes and rolled over. Except he misjudged how far away he was from the side of the bed and fell onto the hard floor. He groaned. What a way to start the morning.

After a lot of shouting, shaking and a great deal of cold water, Ron and Harry were finally walking down the stairs of the boys' dormitory, looking very dishevelled. Hermione was waiting in the common room, impatiently tapping a foot.

"There you are, I've been waiting ages," she complained. "Now lets go down to breakfast. I'm hungry and I am certain that Ron is. He's always hungry."

Ron looked hurt. "That's not a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a bonus."

Hermione shrugged. "Everyone to their own taste."

She turned and walked out through the portrait hole with Ron and Harry trailing behind, desperately trying to straighten out their robes and make themselves presentable. They did not want a detention or points deducted from Snape on the first day.

They walked into the Great Hall, Ron pulling ahead and running to sit at the bench. He started eating before he had even sat down properly. The other two sat on either side of him, taking their own food.

On the teacher's table Professor McGonagall was laughing at something Professor Jackson had said. Professor Jackson was wearing a bemused expression like he didn't quite know what he said that was so funny.

Suddenly a swarm of owls descended onto the hall, carrying parcels and letters from family and friends. Except, today the owls weren't going towards to object of their deliveries, but rather the new professor.

Professor Jackson gulped. Oh no. Now he had to deal not only with Professor McGonagall's owl, but all the owls in Hogwarts.

The owls circled above the table for a few seconds then all at once fell onto Professor Jackson, pecking and clawing him. Feathers flew everywhere and parcels and letters lay discarded at the edge of the scuffle.

Professor Jackson tried batting the birds away but more kept coming. By now the entire hall was in uproar, either in laughter, concern or outrage, nobody knew. Ron was just looking at it with a piece of toast halfway to his mouth, in complete silence. Harry was having an internal battle of whether to laugh or help while Hermione was yelling at people to stop laughing.

Over on the Slytherin table, Harry saw Malfoy rolling on the floor with hysterics. Luna and Neville were in a similar predicament.

To Harry's ultimate surprise, stern Professor McGonagall was laughing as well. What was going on? He saw her wipe away a tear and say something to the owls. As far as bird expressions go, they looked sheepish. (Birds looked sheepish, who knew?)

Percy sighed in relief and muttered under his breath. "Phew. Gods damn why do wizards have to deliver their post by owl? Can't they use a Poseidon-friendly method? Stupid rivalry with Athena..." His head shot up and looked at Professor McGonagall. "No offence."

Harry looked around to see everyone had gone back to eating except Luna, Neville and Malfoy but they were shut up with a glare from the professor. His glares were scary. Harry did not ever want to be on the receiving end. He heard snatches of Professor Jacksons mutterings, "-wizards...owl...friendly...rivalry...Athena..."

"I think that's suspicious," said Hermione. "Don't you Ron, Harry. Surely you heard part of that. All I heard was about wizards and Athena. Whatever that means."

"Whazzat?" Asked Ron.

"Were you even listening Ronald? Heaven knows how I put up with you."

"Webb I fink 'e's a deaf ea'er," Ron choked in response between mouthfuls of waffles. He swallowed with difficulty. "I think he's a Death Eater. He's got marks on his arm and Malfoy also had them. We all know that Neville and Luna would never be a Death Eaters. Besides- wait. Look! He's burning his food! Again! And his pancakes are blue."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's probably just a religion Ron. And we can't prove he's a Death Eater yet. I think he's something other than a Death Eater. There must be a logical explanation. He's from America. Maybe there's an American agency or something. We need to read up on this. Let's grab our timetables and head to the library ASAP. Come on Ron."

"But 'Mione," Ron whined. "I want to finish."

"No you don't," said Hermione shortly and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him to the front to collect their timetable. Harry got up and followed behind. You do not want to be on the bad side of Hermione when she's in the mood.

Hermione grabbed her timetable as well as one for Ron who was...incapable of getting one himself in his current predicament. You could hear him complaining loudly for miles. Harry took one himself and trailed after Hermione.

"We have a free lesson so let's go and do some research," said Hermione, looking at her timetable. "After that we have double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and then double Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins."

Ron groaned. "I can't believe you agreed for us to take Care of Magical Creatures again. Hagrid is probably going to make us look after Blast Ended Skrewts 2.0, the ones that have poison breath and super intelligence."

Hermione huffed indignantly. "After all Hagrid did for us and you don't want to go to his lesson. Besides, I asked and he wasn't going to do anything too dangerous."

"So comforting."

"Besides, we have a free lesson and double transfiguration before then."

"Where you'll drag us to the library and then we'll be run into the dirt by those super smart Ravenclaws. I'm looking forward to it."

"Just stop complaining and follow me. I'll never know why I'm your girlfriend."

"Obviously because you love me."

"Ugh."

Harry chuckled. In the time it had taken for them to have this argument they had arrived outside the library. Ron's eyes widened in realisation.

"You've been arguing to get me to get here quicker, haven't you?"

Hermione smirked.

 _~ Page Break ~_

Half an hour of fruitless searching later, it was time for Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall told them that they were turning spaghetti into snakes and back again. Neville paled. He didn't have a good experience with snakes. Actually, neither had Harry.

"Professor McGonagall is such a good teacher," whispered Hermione. "She's continuing to teach even though she has her Headmistress duties as well."

"It's kinda our job to like her," said Ron. "She is head of Gryffindor. Hang on, I thought the Headmistress wasn't supposed to be a head of house."

"Well... Most of the other teachers either didn't go to Hogwarts or were in other houses," replied Hermione. "Professor Jackson can't be head of Gryffindor because he never went here. Plus he's new."

With a burst of red sparks her spaghetti transformed into a huge boa constrictor. She waved her wand and quickly turned it back.

"Speaking of," said Harry. "What d'ya think his lesson will be like?"

"I think he'll teach us some weird American voodoo," speculated Ron.

"Ummm, I don't think that voodoo is really his style," said Harry. "Besides I didn't think that it even exists."

As one, both of the boys turned their heads towards Hermione. She huffed and muttered something about studying and basic knowledge.

"Voodoo was a type of magic practiced in America for a while," started Hermione, going into dictionary mode. "It was viewed as evil by muggles and often was. These american magicians often lived in areas that were practically inhospitable. An example would be the bayous in Louisiana."

Harry and Ron cocked their heads in unison. Hermione sighed at their ignorance.

"Louisiana is in southern America and was sold by the French to the US as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803."

"Wow. You really are a talking dictionary," commented Ron. Hermione blushed.

"That's what happens when you read the dictionary for fun."

Ron snorted. "You actually read dictionaries? Guess you'll take over from them when they go out of business."

"Yeah? Well-"

"Guys! Would you stop bickering," interrupted Harry. "You're like an old married couple."

They both blushed and looked away. Then they turned back and continued with their argument.

Harry rolled his eyes. They just would not stop. In fact, they were at it again now. Something about Ron's snake not being a snake but a piece of spaghetti with a snakes head while Ron was protesting that it was better to have the food stay normal and snakes weren't in fashion anyway. Harry groaned. He couldn't wait until the end of the lesson.

 _~ Page Break ~_

Once Transfiguration was over, the Golden Trio headed out to the grounds where they would be taking Care of Magical Creatures, Ron complaining loudly all the way.

They arrived just outside the Forbidden Forest where a few Gryffindors and a pair of Slytherins were waiting. To the Golden Trio's surprise, Professor was standing next to three winged horses. Two were white and milling around in the background while the last one was black and nudging the professor who seemed to be having an argument with it.

"-no Blackjack. Thats my final word," they caught the professor saying. The horse whinnied pleadingly. "I don't care if you like them, they're bad for your teeth. No. I don't see Guido or Porkpie begging for them. Besides they make you hyper. You still haven't cooled off from when Tyson looked after you for a week and gave you as many as you wanted while I went to find some new recruits. I came back to find you lying on your back, covered in sugar with fifty boxes around you. It took weeks to work off all your fat."

The horse shook his head as if to say, _So_ _what? It wasn't_ that _bad._

Hermione seemed to be drooling. "Oh my goodness!" She gushed. "Pegasi. Singular, Pegasus. They are so incredibly rare in Britain that most people thought they died out. I thought the only known colonies were in Greece and America though..."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged. Harry walked up to the professor who looked like a mum scolding a child.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Harry. "What does he want?"

Professor Jackson rolled his eyes. "Donuts. It's always donuts with him. Still haven't figured out his addiction to them. Once we were flying and he tried to take me to a mor- muggle drive-thru."

Harry looked at the professor strangely. Luckily the professor didn't see as he was too busy trying to block the black pegasus's puppy eyes.

Hagrid suddenly came striding out the forest, Fang by his side.

"Ahh, here you all are then," he said. "We'll be learning abou' pegasi today with the help of Professor Jackson who is a equestrian and marine expert."

Hermione frowned but said nothing. Malfoy was looking at Professor Jackson expectantly.

"Pegasi. Singular, pegasus," started the professor.

"Gor' Hermione," whispered Ron. "'e's starting the same way you did."

"They are winged animals that look a lot like horses, but actually are not very much like them at all," he continued. "Pegasi tend to be more intelligent than regular horses, lighter, hollow bones so that they are able to fly and they come in more or less one size. Despite this pegasi are incredibly strong and able to carry many people at once. Most pegasi are the standard white but some, like Blackjack here, are coloured. Coloured pegasi are very rare though and most people are lucky to see a pegasus outside of Greece or the US, let alone a coloured one."

Hermione's hand shot up and waved about with a question. The professor nodded and she lowered her hand.

"Professor," she started. "Why do only Greece and the US have pegasi? I mean, we've got thestrals but they're not exactly the same are they?"

"Actually, a thestral and a pegasus are very similar," replied the professor. "No-one really knows why thestrals look like they do but the it's most likely that a pegasus was hit by a deadly jinx or curse, maybe the killing curse, and that's why they look like they do and can only be seen by people who have seen death. Their bone structures are very similar too. But your question is a good one. The fact that Greece is the birth place of the pegasus is very ironic. If anyone is familiar with Greek myths then you'll know that pegasus was born after Poseidon knocked up a beautiful woman called Medusa in Athena's temple." Was it just Harry or did the professor grimace?

"But Professor," said Hermione. "Wasn't Medusa a horrible monster?"

"I'm getting to that. Athena was angry at the disrespect and cursed the woman to be so ugly that whenever she looked at someone they got turned to stone. Eventually a hero called Perseus cut off her head and out sprang two beings. One was Chrysaor, the golden one, and the other was Pegasus, the first winged horse."

"Then how did pegasi get to America?"

"They were brought a few centuries ago when...wizards started to increase in population. Of course, many wizards were killed by the Salem Witch Trials, that's why there is so little wizarding activity in America. The pegasi continued to live with the surviving wizards though."

"Then where did you go to school?"

 _Gods this girl is persistent,_ thought Percy wearily. _Glad Hecate gave me a backstory too. I suppose I'm not really lying but I'm not telling the complete truth either._

"Well," he continued. "In America wizards would have died out if they didn't marry muggles. Because of this many people don't realise they are magic until they are twelve or thirteen. In some rare cases people go their whole lives without knowing of their wizarding blood. Anyway I went to a school that was really more like camp called Camp Half-Blood - we take pride of our muggle heritage in America - where people would be sent out to find wizards and witches."

"But-"

"Jeez Hermione, this lesson has turned into a history lesson. Feel free to pet the pegasi. The black one is Blackjack, he likes donuts and you probably shouldn't ride him because he'll throw anyone who isn't me. He's kinda adopted me as his human, pus he's had bad experiences with people who have used him. Once my friend Rachel took him and he's never trusted redheads ever since."

A few people chuckled and stepped forward nervously.

"What are the other two called?" Asked Seamus, patting Blackjack.

"The show-off is Guido, he's adopted my friend Reyna as his human and he loves to do aerial tricks and manoeuvres. He's rather vain." At this Guido stomped his hoof and snorted. Professor Jackson rolled his eyes as if the horse had said something that just proved his point.

"What about the other one?" Asked Seamus again.

"The other one is Porkpie. He's a good pegasus for beginners. Now, who wants a ride?"

 _~ Page Break ~_

By the end of the lesson, everyone had at least sat on one of the pegasus' back, even if they didn't fly. Harry was a natural, of course his broomstick skills were a great asset. To everyone's surprise Neville had been so good that he looked like he had had lessons. Professor Jackson smiled proudly while Neville blushed up to his ears.

Hagrid hadn't really been involved that lesson but instead opted to stand by the side lines and watch, occasionally throwing out a few facts about the monsters that were most likely to eat a pegasus.

Harry and Ron found Hermione scribbling away in a notebook as they walked back to the castle to have lunch.

"What 'cha writing Mione?" Asked Ron, peering over her shoulder.

"Well, I want to figure out the new professor so I have made a list of things that aren't quite normal if you ask me. While he stayed at the Burrow I was able to ask him a few questions, plus the story he just told us and us eavesdropping means I have quite the bit of information."

Harry took Hermione's notebook and looked at it.

 _Things that are suspicious about the new professor:_

 _\- He's American_

 _\- Has a black mark where the Death Eaters' tattoos are_

 _\- Full name Perseus_

 _\- Knows Luna, Neville, Draco, assumedly Professors Snape and McGonagall too_

 _\- Owls hate him_

 _\- Can see the thestrals_

 _\- Talks about a weird legion thing_

 _\- An important parent who is very rich_

 _\- An expert in horses and fish_

Harry looked up at his two friends and they all three spontaneously burst out laughing at the last item on the list. They walked up to the castle arm-in-arm to have lunch.

 **Oh My Gods**

 **I am sooo sorry for not updating sooner and I really have no excuse whatsoever. Now that schools started however I will probably only be able to update at the weekend, if then. Please be patient with me if I don't manage to update sooner because I have exams coming up and I need to revise.**

 **I made up the part about thestrals and pegasi but the thing about lighter bones is true in birds so why not in pegasi. Also the Salem Witch Trials were a real thing.**

 **IMPORTANT: I noticed that in the last chapter I wrote that Neville was in the Legion. I meant to write that Draco was in the legion, not Neville and in case your wondering, his grandfather is Dionysus. I find this is a good reason why his grandmother lives alone. Plus he's good with plants but not to he extent of a Demeter or Ceres child.**

 **Also if you didn't catch it then I'll just mention that Luna and Professor McGonagall are daughters of Athena. Neville is grandson of Dionysus and Malfoy is son of Nemesis. Narcissa is his step-mum but he views her as more of a mother than his birth mother was. Snape is actually a son of Hades but to prevent Zeus finding him he was disowned and stripped of all his godly power. However because his mother was a wizard he still had magic and the godly blood inherited from his father made his magic better at dark spells and potions.**

 **TheFallenAce: You're right, they are a bit cough very cough snoopy.**

 **Matt: You are forgiven**

 **Thanks to: KixenKill, roxy-Solangelo, Aviendhaphiragon, LordDesolation, jeangary28, ThePreenPorpoise, JojoJellybeans, Unknowngirl345(guest), TheFallenAce, ultim-owner and Penny Lu.**

 **Apologies if I missed anyone and a huge thanks to all my supportive followers and favouriters (is that even word?) and don't be afraid to give me feedback on where I can improve and if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes I failed to see. Reviews make me happy!**

 **Star㈀8㇩5**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I own nothing. JK and Uncle Rick are way better writers than I am.

Professor Jackson didn't come into breakfast at the normal time the next day. Actually that was probably a good thing; the owls were back. They were sitting everywhere, having just delivered the post. The professor walked in casually. As one the entire body of owls looked at him.

"Oh no."

They started to rise but flew down again when Nerida landed next to the professor. A battle of sacred animals was the last thing they needed.

Percy sighed in relief and sat down in his chair. Nerida hooted and ruffled her feathers.

 _Didn't I just stop the owls attacking you,_ she said. _I think I deserve a reward._

 _Well you weren't here yesterday,_ Percy grumbled telepathically as a reply. _When they all attacked me and Minerva had to use her 'Daughter of Athena' prowess to tell them to lay off._

 _Well I want tuna._

 _You are a phoenix. A water phoenix. From the ocean. And you want fish,_ Percy said, raising his eyebrows. _It's Blackjack all over again._

 _I am nothing like that pegasus. And tuna is a perfectly acceptable thing to eat. Oh, before I forget, I have a bunch of letters for you. From all your friends._

Percy picked up the letters and rifled through the packet. One from Grover, one from Frank and Hazel, one from Piper and Jason, one from Leo and Calypso, one from Travis and Connor and one from Annabeth.

He opened the one from Grover and read it.

 _Hi Perce,_

 _How are you doing? Same old, same old back here at camp. Heard you haven't been sacked yet. I wonder how you have managed it. Coach Hedge and Mellie say hi and Chuck said his first word, flowers. Not quite what Hedge was expecting but he'll take what he can get. Clarisse oohed like an Aphrodite kid. Hope to see you again soon._

 _From the G-man_

Percy chuckled and opened the one from Frank and Hazel.

 _Hi! Frank_ and Hazel here. _Hope to see you again soon Perce, its boring here without you._ Oh it was so funny! The water phoenix tried to nuzzle me and Frank got all protective. He turned into a bigger water phoenix and stood in front of me, and the water phoenix looked at him all unimpressed then squawked at him. He changed back blushing like mad. _I was not blushing! And Perce, boy can your bird cuss when she wants to. From Frank_ and Hazel.

Awwwwww! They even write together! Adorable. Next he opened the one from Piper and Jason.

 _Hey bro, how ya doin'?_

 _Piper says hi and congrats on getting a job. We've found out that the baby is going to be a girl. Imagine, having a girl with Piper's charm-speak and guts and my lighting and wind powers. It's going to be mayhem! Especially if she gets some spunk from Thalia. Can't wait to see you again!_

 _Jason and Piper._

Percy leaned over and showed it to Professor McGonagall who patted him on the back and told him to write her congratulations. He cautiously opened the letter from Leo. He didn't want to catch fire today thanks. Although Calypso would probably bring him down to earth with a well timed smack.

 _Super sized McShizzle is in da BUILDING! Supreme Commander of the most amazing vessel the Argo II ready to make you join Team Leo- OW! Sunshine! That hurt! You almost ruined my awesomeness. Okay, okay, geez, I'll stop. Anyway, whats the news? Any hot girls? 'Cause all da ladies luuuu- OW! Sunshine, stop hitting me. I was joking. No-one could replace you. Fine. Anyway. All is well back here in camp. Sunshine is adjusting well and I was thinking about making a girl for Festus. Can metal dragons even have kids in the conventional way- sorry. ADHD acting up again. See you when I see you. GO TEAM LEO!_

The card burst into flames as Percy finished reading it. Professor McGonagall looked over.

"Leo?" She asked. Percy nodded in conformation as she rolled her eyes. He gently picked up the letter from Travis and Connor. They had near identical handwriting and had a tendency to leave fireworks as a calling card. Percy opened it and a red firework shot out into his face.

 _Hi! It's Travis and Connor here! Why d'ya write your name first? Because I'm more awesome. No your not, I am so much better than you. Oh really? Well at least I don't have a hopeless crush on Katie Gardner from Demeter. I do not! Do so. Do not. Do so! Do not! DO SO! DO NOT! DENIAL. I AM NOT IN DENIAL. Stop it Travis, the whole camp knows. They do? Yup. Oh great. Anyway, as my not-as-awesome-as-me brother was trying to say, we miss you and hope you come back to camp soon. No one else is willing to hide us when they try to kill us. Give me the pen Connor! No way! You just did! Then give it back! Uhhhh. We'll take this somewhere else. Bye!_

Percy glanced over at Fred and George who were offering out sweets. Probably from the joke shop. He shuddered to think of them meeting Travis and Connor. It would be the start of Doomsday. Add a scrawny Latino demigod with fire powers and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.

Finally Percy reached for the letter he most wanted to read. Annabeth's.

 _Seaweed Brain! I miss you so much! I know I agreed to this but it is simply unbearable without you. We lost Capture The Flag without you. Clarisse has been showing off so much, it's horrible. We got a new camper by the way. She's twelve and a daughter of Hebe. Her name is Georgia. Now, enough with the camp news. How are you doing? Come home for Christmas! As soon as Hecate says you have finished your quest we can get married. Aphrodite said that she wanted to plan out the wedding herself! We are her favourite couple! Please hurry and try not to do anything suspicious. I would prefer not having to clean up your mess. From Wise Girl._

Percy squeaked. Aphrodite was planning his wedding. He whispered loudly to Minerva who clapped him on the back and congratulated him, offering him a quill and parchment. He grabbed them and started writing replies to his friends.

Nerida hooted.

"Yeah, I'll get you tuna," muttered the professor. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. He shooed Nerida away and quickly left the room, looking for the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Percy strode along the corridors until he reached the classroom. It was a typical old fashioned classroom with desks that open upwards and made out of hard wood lined up next to each other with a blackboard and chalk at the front. I mean, who uses chalk anymore?

He sighed, this was going to take a lot of work. He started pushing the desks to the side.

~ ~ ~Page Break~ ~ ~

"We have Defence Against the Dark Arts as our first lesson," Harry noted, shifting his glasses further up his nose to see his timetable better. "I wonder what it'll be like?"

Ron snorted into his pumpkin juice. "I bet he doesn't have You-Know-Who stuck to the back of his head. I bet he's not a writer who didn't do anything he said he did. I bet he's not a werewolf, a Death Eater under polyjuice - although he could be - he's not a a pink toad, biased Snape-"

"We get it!" Interrupted Harry. "We've had a few bad teachers."

"More like five out of six," retorted Ron, "and we had Peter Pettigrew that third year. Despite Lupin being the best teacher we have had so far."

"Well we had the Triwizard Tournament in the fourth year," countered Harry.

"You mean you had the Triwizard Tournament."

"There was Rita Skeeter."

"Didn't mention me too many times."

"Giant chess board."

"I didn't fight Quirrell."

"You were at the Department of Mysteries."

"For a vision you had."

"Basilisk."

"I was stuck with Lockhart behind a wall of rock."

"What about sixth year?"

"I didn't see Snape push Dumbledore off the tower."

"I did."

"Isn't that the point of-"

"Girls!" Interrupted Hermione. "Stop twittering like old ladies fighting over the knitting."

Ron and Harry both blushed, Ron turning back to his pumpkin juice.

"Still, it was all you who did those things," pressed Ron, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"You were great too Ron," replied Harry. "You're like the heart of the group."

Hermione snorted. "Great. And the next line will be 'and you have mine,' or something cheesy like that. Thats lovely ladies but if you two can stop flirting, I don't want to be late to lessons."

Ron did a spit-take, spraying juice all over the table and at the girl sitting on the other side. "I was not flirting. Men can't flirt."

"At least boys who spray juice all over ladies can't," she replied, raising an eye at the fuming Gryffindor sitting across from her. "When you have finished running from her Harry and I will be outside the DADA classroom."

She got to her feet with Harry trailing behind her, leaving Ron to the angry girl.

Hermione and Harry detoured to get their stuff from the Gryffindor common room, getting Ron's as well out of pity.

They strolled to the classroom and stood outside, Hermione tapping her foot impatiently. After about five minutes Ron turned up, looking like he'd just run all over the castle.

Hermione sniffed. "I thought he'd be worse," she said. "What did you bribe her with?"

"How did you know about that?" Asked Ron, wide-eyed. "And I bribed her with limited addition skiving snack boxes, plus those extendable ears that I nicked and we used yesterday."

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. All the seventh years that had applied were taking the class together, from all four houses. Everyone was already there standing awkwardly in the room as all the desks had been pushed to the side. There were various weapons all over the walls as well as armour and...a necklace, a bracelet and some other seemingly useless pieces of jewellery.

Professor Jackson was sitting cross-legged at the front, looking keenly around at everyone and tapping his jeans with a cheap ballpoint pen.

"Ah, Ron, Harry, Hermione. So glad you could join us," he said, standing up. "We were about to start. Now. As Minerva said at at the start of term feast, there will be some notable differences. I will also be teaching you physical defence in case you ever lose your wands. Call us old-fashioned, but in America we use swords, knives and various other spears and weapons against monsters and dark beasts. So that the muggles don't see them, we heavily enchant our weapons so that they either look transform into a common object or put a glamour on to make it look like something else, like a baseball bat. Of course I will also teach you spells but since I've explained to about swords, I will now demonstrate the effectiveness of one against my cousin Nico."

"But professor, your cousin isn't here," someone pointed out. Professor Jackson turned to the darkest cornet of the room.

"Nico, get your but over here!" He yelled into the shadows. A disembodied voice drifted back.

"Go away Perce, I'm on important business for father."

"You and I both know you're not. The fact you replied at all shows that you are not on important business. After all, you feel anything in the shadows."

"I hate your logic," the voice growled back. "You learned from Annabeth."

Professor Jackson grinned as the shadows darkened then came together to form the shape of a boy wearing all black and had a sword sheath round his waist. He stepped out of the shadows, glaring at Percy.

"Class, this is my younger cousin on my dad's side, Nico di Angelo, he will do a demonstration with me."

"Not that I have much of a chance," Nico muttered. "Percy is the best swordsman in two centuries."

The professor waved his hands at the students so they shuffled back a bit, leaving a space for the demonstration.

Professor Jackson took out his pen and uncapped it, the whole class gasping as it transformed into a glowing bronze sword. Nico drew his Stygian iron one and got into a ready position, Percy doing the same. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Percy lunged. Nico dodged then threw in a hit of his own. It went on like this for a minute or two, each exchanging blows until Percy got bored and feinted to the left then rolled to the right, coming up with his sword at Nico's throat.

"One day I'll get you," Nico murmured as Percy lowered his sword, the class silence in shock at the speed of it all until they burst into unanimous cheering.

"You wish," replied Percy with a cheeky grin. "Right. I have some practice weapons here, you can start by trying to land some blows on these dummies. Luna, Neville, Draco. Since you can do this, grab a practice weapon and spar together while Nico and I help everyone out."

Nico nodded in agreement and started handing out wooden weapons.

Harry picked up a wooden sword with both hands. It was weird compared to a wand and much heavier. He hefted it and swung it at the dummy without any control. It glanced off its arm and Harry was carried along by the momentum.

Nico materialised behind him, scaring him to death.

"Don't hold it in both hands," Nico advised. "Holding a sword in one hand opens more options, especially if you know how to use it to your advantage. Try again, slower this time."

Harry let go with one hand and swung again, slower this time. Nico kept giving him tips and it wasn't long before Harry's arm was aching. He hadn't used these muscles in a long time. You had no use for fitness in the wizarding world. Except if you were a quidditch player, and even then you didn't need strong arms like you did for sword fighting.

Harry dropped the sword and rubbed his aching arm. Nico sat down and looked at the students. He smirked and twirled his sword around effortlessly. Show-off.

Suddenly the wall next to Harry rippled and Nearly-Headless-Nick drifted through. Harry turned to look and in the corner of his eye saw Nico surge to his feet and glare at the ghost angrily. Nick didn't see and spoke.

"So how are they doing professor-"

"Hello Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington," interrupted Nico, spookily calm. "How have you been in the over world? You denied a good shot at Elysium you know."

As soon as Nick heard Nico, he turned pale. So pale in fact he almost translucent. He started to shiver and turned around to the glaring boy.

"Master!" Cried Nick, falling to his knees. "My Lord! Please don't send me down to the underworld! I love it here and you know I was scared of moving on so instead I became a ghost and help the next generation of wizards to-"

"Save it," Nico whispered venomously. "I am the Ghost King. I command you!"

Nico thrust out his hand and Nearly-Headless-Nick started to dissipate with a long, loud wail. Nico's face was one of pure fury, the shadows seemed to cling to him as Nick slowly started to return to the underworld.

Some of the students screamed. One Slytherin girl fainted while all the others backed away, many looking at Harry as if he was going to do something. Harry tried to aim his wand at Nico but if Harry were honest, he was too scared. Something about the way Nico was controlling the dead Nick made Harry shiver in his robes.

Professor Jackson calmly walked forward and placed a hand on Nico's shoulder. Nico sighed and lowered his hand. Nick started to return, almost crying with relief. Nico waved his hand and Nick was sucked out through the wall.

"You shouldn't have done that you know," said the professor lowly as all the students erupted in chatter.

"Do you know how much paperwork these stupid ghosts give me? Not to mention Tom Riddle," Nico spat with absolute loathing and disgust. "Stupid wizard tearing his soul into parts to stay alive. It took a day just to put his soul together for judgement. Dad was about to send me out to do a little soul-reaping. Also Thanatos still complains about that little fiasco with those brothers. We still don't have his stuff back."

Harry's eyes widened. How did he know about Tom Riddle? America weren't involved in the war. They didn't even know about it as far as Harry thought. And if they did know about it then why didn't they help? None of the other countries knew about it. To them, that little incident at the Quidditch World Cup was passed off as a elaborate hoax.

Harry saw the professor send a warning look at his cousin who just shrugged.

"I'm going to visit my favourite brother," he said, as if he hadn't just made a four-hundred year old ghost almost disappear.

"He's your only brother," mumbled the professor. "And technically he is only your half-brother disowned."

"Details," said Nico, shrugging. He raised his hand in farewell and vanished into the shadows.

Professor Jackson turned back to the class, looking exhausted. His head shot up as the bell rang. Harry had never seen someone looking so glad in their life.

"Class dismissed," the professor said. "I hope to see you next lesson."

Most of the students rushed out as soon as possible but Luna, Neville and Draco stayed behind.

Harry dragged his two friends into the corridor which seemed to already be empty. Everyone must have really wanted to get out of that class.

Taking advantage of the deserted corridor, Harry placed his ear upon the door. It wasn't as easy without the extendable ears but Harry could hear snatches. The professor seemed to be telling the three students inside something.

"Don't...need...come...combat...already...know...all," the professor was saying.

"Thank...Praetor," replied Luna.

"After...don't...show...hidden...weapons," Harry heard the professor say, muffled by the thick oak door. He heard the professor quickly dismiss them and scrambled away from the door and stood by Ron and Hermione, trying to look inconspicuous in the deserted corridor.

The new professor was definitely hiding something. And Harry was going to find out what.

 **Oh My Gods. By Merlin's most baggy Y-fronts I am sooooooo sorry for not updating earlier, but I had exams and I had to revise. Plus I just couldn't find the energy to write recently. Feel free to throw virtual rocks at me. *Gets bombarded by sixty giant boulders.* Wow. I am flattered that I am worth sixty boulders. *Gets hit in the head by a tiny pebble and falls over.* Not so flattered.**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited this story, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the support. Now, onto the reviews.**

 **GryffindorPosidens Divergents: We will someday rule the world! HAHAHA, cough.**

 **Matt(guest): I completely agree with you on the Mist front. Although it does keep the mortals from freaking out though.**

 **Brie03127: I'll try**

 **Yash Agarwal: Thanks. Sorry about messing up the chapters. I am relatively new to this.**

 **Penny Lu: Owl will plagu you Percy Jackson! Beware! Beware!**

 **Amelia Loves Annie: Sorry about that, I've fixed it now. Thanks for the praise and I will try and keep the characters as themselves but really? No one can recreate Persassy. It is too unique in its mysterious ways.**

 **Rose169(guest): I hope this chappie lived up to your expectations.**

 **Percabeth101(guest): Don't worry. You'll live 'till tomorrow. I have no ideas about abandoning this story.**

 **Unknown girl 345(guest): They re like wizarding stalkers as well.**

 **Shannon Raise D. Sumner: Really!? Out of all of them, this one you look forward to the most. I think I read it wrong. That cannot be right. Wait...I read it again. I read it right the first time... THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **Sara(guest): *Blushes* Awww thanks! And you can just call me Star. StarFlight13 is a bit of a mouthful.**

 **roxy-Solangelo: Don't worry, I wont give up anytime soon. Also, thanks for sticking by this story. I appreciate it.**

 **ReadingandReviewing: OH. MY. GOD. I am actually planning on doing a 'Neville goes all fierce' part. Are you a mind reader? If you are, then can you go andfind out the ending to Captain America: Civil War which is coming out this year. It is killing me it looks so good. Oh. Wait. You don't have to. You may not even like it. But seriously. It. Is. Killing. Me. Thanks!**

 **thegoldenboss: Thanks!**

 **Storybook Sayo: Thank you!**

 **And thats a wrap. Thank you all reviewers. Please review this chapter and tell me where I went wrong. It helps keep me motivated and give me new plot ideas. Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Thanks Uncle Rick and JK for writing such great stories! *Sigh* My heroes...

A few days of many lessons and a boring Binns later, it was once again Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Defence Against the Dark Arts had quickly become notorious throughout Hogwarts for the new teacher and his unusual lessons.

"Good morning class," started professor Jackson, looking around at his eager students. "Today we will be learning spells and also creatures that live in America."

Hermione thrust her hand up and waved it around to get the professor's attention. "Professor," she started. "Earlier this week Ron mentioned voodoo to me and so I was compelled to do some reading up about it. Apparently it's very popular. Is that the type of magic you learn in the US? Can you perform some?"

"Unfortunately, no," replied the professor. "But I do have a cousin Hazel who's mother was quite a famous practitioner. Her name was Queen Marie Levesque. Hazel herself inherited quite a few traits and knows a lot of Mist magic."

"What's Mist?"

"It's a kind of...cloaking magic. Anyway, back to topic. The beast we will be learning about is a Hellhound. There are plenty around where I live. They are like huge black dogs with massive claws and teeth. I happen to have the only friendly hellhound. Her name is Mrs O'Leary."

The professor let out a shrill taxi cab whistle. The shadows solidified into a giant black dog. Several people screamed and one Slytherin girl fainted. Funny, that was the same one as last lesson. Anyway, it was quite some time before everyone calmed down enough to hear...two people laughing. From the back of the dog?

"Oh gods," said one. "Connor, did you see their faces? Priceless!"

"I know, right," the other voice replied. "Fancy being scared of Mrs O'Leary?"

It was silence for a moment until Professor Jackson spoke. He looked murderous.

"Connor, Travis. Get down, right now."

Two twin-like grinning boys climbed down from the giant dog. They looked at each other cheekily. The taller one reached into his pocket. Apart from their height you couldn't tell them apart.

"Is this your pen," he asked bringing it out and holding it up. Harry gasped. How had that boy gotten the professors pen? It was always in his pocket. Wow. These guys were good.

"Travis, give my pen back," Professor Jackson said irritably but with a sliver of amusement. Travis looked confused. Until the pen in his hand melted away into thin air. The professor reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Travis stomped his foot.

"No fair man," he said. The professor just grinned.

"Have you really forgotten that it always returns to me?" He asked. Travis made an 'oh' face. The professor laughed and turned around quickly to see the other boy about to pickpocket him.

" _Alarte Ascendare_ *," shouted the professor, pointing his wand at the two boys. They shot high into the air. As they reached the large wooden beams, the professor once again shot a spell at them. " _Incarcerous_!"

Two ropes shot out the tip of his wand and wrapped around their ankles, tying them to the beams. They both identically pouted.

"Luna, Draco, Neville, won't you let your good friends down from here? Please," the taller boy pleaded. Luna just shook her head.

"If we let you down you'd steal everything off everyone in this classroom and the entire population of Hogwarts," she stated.

Travis and Connor looked at each other for a second before bursting into laughter in complete unison.

"H- H- Hogwarts!" They laughed. "What kinda name is that?"

Most of the student body looked irked at their school being laughed at. The professor glared at the two boys. He waved his wand at them.

" _Silencio_!"

Immediately they grew quiet, even though their mouths were opening and closing in silent guffaws. It was quite strange watching them. Suddenly the smaller one stopped laughing and opened his mouth once, seemingly trying to say something. The professor just smirked.

"Don't worry you two, I'll let you down at the end of the lesson," said the professor, turning back to the class. "Now, we'll be studying little known spells such as the _incendio_ spell that causes fire. You can also have _incendio_ _duo_ **, which is twice as strong, or _incendio tria_ ***, which is three times as strong. Everyone following?"

There were a few nods and murmurs of _yes_. "Good. Have fun experimenting. There are some books at the back on making spells stronger and how important less well known spells are. At least, that's what I think they're about. If it turns out that one of them is about genies rather than jinxes, then ignore it. I wasn't concentrating and I have dyslexia."

Harry made a surprised noise. He couldn't name many teachers who would let their students run free. Or a professor who had dyslexia. Wait, he had dyslexia? But he could read perfectly well. Strange. Probably some spell that helps with dyslexia.

Then again, the professor in question had a giant, terrifying dog called Mrs O'Leary in the classroom thumping it's tail and two twin-like boys tied to the rafters by their ankles. Not a normal professor. Although to be fair, when were the Defence teachers ever normal?

Harry shook his thoughts off and went to get a book. Ginny came up to him and pecked him on the lips. Harry smiled and caught her by the waist and kissed her full on the lips. Luna grinned and nudged Neville (whom she was paired with) with her elbow.

"Remind you of anyone?" She asked, looking pointedly over at the professor. Professor Jackson stuck his tongue out at her immaturely.

"I never did that," he denied.

"Yes, actually, you did," said Draco.

Travis and Connor fist-bumped silently. Professor Jackson just rolled his eyes and turned to help a pair of struggling Gryffindors.

 _~~~ Page Break ~~~_

At the end of the lesson everyone slowly filed out, petting the now sleeping Mrs O'Leary and chatting about the lesson. The Golden Trio stood and whispered together at the back of the classroom. The two boys hanging from the rafters waved their arms around trying to get the professor's attention. The professor turned and pointed his wand at them.

" _Finite Incantatem_ ," he said. The ropes came undone and they fell to the ground with thump.

"Ugh," groaned Travis as he hauled himself up. "Couldn't you have made me land a bit more softly with that fancy-shmancy wand of yours?"

"You? Don't you mean us?" Asked Connor loudly in his brothers ear. Mrs O'Leary's head jerked up at the noise.

" _Woof_!" She barked energetically, bounding up and jumping on the boys, covering them in slobber.

The professor grinned. "I could've...but I decided not to."

"Thanks," Travis moaned, wiping saliva out his eyes. "Feeling the love."

Mrs O'Leary barked, tongue lolling out her mouth in what can be only described as a doggy grin. Percy laughed at their ridiculous expressions.

"You two better get back to Camp," he said, offering a hand to help them up. "Chiron can't stop you from being turned into dolphins forever."

"Right," Connor agreed. "Too many times the Wine Dude has threatened us with dolphin-hood."

"Although we could just pin it on you," continued his brother. "I'm sure your father would love to have you with him. You could be Triton's noble steed."

"No," Percy deadpanned. "One, my father would literally blast you into oblivion if you did that: two, I will not let Triton ride me. He hates me."

"You could make friend with the fish," Connor suggested. "Although, you already are friends with the fish. Remember when I videoed you talking to that clownfish. Nemo, was it?"

"I only named him because he helped me," Percy protested.

"Nemo?" Travis snickered. "You can't say you don't love disney."

"Shut up," Percy replied irritably, playfully shoving his friend. "At least I don't have a hopeless crush on a certain girl from Demeter."

"I don't have a crush on Katie," Travis denied, blushing.

"Who said anything about Katie?" Connor questioned.

"No one. Percy. Who didn't of course mention her by name. It was something... I don't have a crush on Katie!"

"Denial," sang Connor.

"I am not in denial!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am NOT!" Travis yelled, chasing after him. Connor just laughed and jumped onto Mrs O'Leary's back. Mrs O'Leary yapped and ran around in circles trying to reach the son of Hermes on her back.

Connor laughed maniacally as Mrs O'Leary kicked her hind legs up like a bronco. Travis made a huge leap and grabbed onto Mrs O'Leary fur, attempting to hold on as she bounced around, eventually diving into the shadows with Travis desperately holding on and screaming.

At the back of the classroom the Golden Trio looked at each other in bewilderment and silently agreed to look into this. And the professor's strange visitors.

 ***** ** _Alarte Ascendare_** **is a real spell. Lockhart used it on the snake in the second book when he was doing the duelling club. It shoots the target into the air.**

 ****** ** _Incendio Duo_** **is a fire spell that is twice as strong as a normal fire spell,** ** _incendio_** **.**

 ******* ** _Incendio Tria_** **is also a real spell but thrice as strong as a normal fire spell.**

 **I am SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SORRY! I don't even have an excuse. That is inexcusable, *bangs head against wall* naughty, silly, horrible, terrible, stupid person. I cannot say how sorry I am. This is a short not-so-good chapter after a long wait and you lovely people don't deserve this. I will now answer your reviews.**

 **Shannon Rei D. Summer: Thank you = ). Your review helps and I will try to keep it up to the same standard that you enjoy.**

 **Guest: I will give you more as soon as possible.**

 **Risa Silvara: Nico is the Ghost King, he will take the ghosts back to his realm. OOOoooOOOoooh! I probably won't be giving him much more to do...but if they help him with something...he might forgive them...**

 **Anonymous: Thanks! Sorry for driving you crazy, it's not my fault, I swear!**

 **Unknown girl 345: Thanks, I appreciate the review.**

 **Rose16: I may or may not do solangelo in this story but the Golden Trio will be quite nosy. Thanks for the review!**

 **Amelia Loves Annie: Thank you for thanking me for writing, I enjoy it and it is always great to hear your opinions.**

 **Guest: I will update ASAP.**

 **littlebear62007: I will.**

 **Guest: Thank you for adoring it!**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: Wheeeeeeeeee, to you too. I will update. I will.**

 **TheDragonSlayerKing: Hello! I am honoured that you feel this story is good enough to binge-read. Thanks for the positive review, I like the feedback. The HP characters may realise about the PJ world but if they do it won't be for a while. If I can I will add a few references to Magnus Chase or Kane Chronicles. On a side note, the Magnus Chase book is soooooo funny, isn't it? I'm looking forward to the next one.**

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 **Guest: Neville is in the same year as Harry, Ron and Hermione. Thanks!**

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 **Guest: You've read it twice? Even I haven't read it twice and I'm the author. Well. I read each chapter it as I wrote them and then proofread it then proofread it again when I uploaded it. But that was chapter by chapter. You sir, have some dedication. Thanks!**

 **Coralbeth: Thanks for your enthusiastic review = D, I would hate for you to die and therefor offer a proffuse apology for the late update. *Tear trickles down her face* Your review was so touching...*sobs* I can't believe you love it...*bursts into tears* I can't repay you... *Straightens up and shakes head* Well now that weirdness is over, I would like to THANK YOU!**

 **Guest: I will continue this until the completion. I will not fail. Hopefully.**

 **Angel: I love Harry Potter and Percy Jackson too! Especially Percy Jackson. My favourite character is Leo 'cause he's hilarious**

 **Guest: Thanks! I will update this fic. Do or do not, there is no try. Just some Yoda there. Ignore me.**

 **THANK YOU ALL REVIEWERS, FAVOURITERS (is that even a word?), FOLLOWERS and READERS! I appreciate the reviews, they help me write. If you have any feedback, please share it. Again, I am sorry for the long wait and not-so-good chapter but I will update soon.**

 **Star, xoxo**

 **P.S. I realise that Ginny and Luna aren't in the same year as Harry but for this sake lets just say that the class is taken by their two years together. If you wanted too take the class that is.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

All characters belong to their respective authors. Go J.K. and Uncle Rick!

"It's strange," said Harry one day almost two weeks later while chatting with his two friends on the school grounds, "the more lessons we have with Jackson, the less I know about him."

"Too true," agreed Ron. "I still think he knows voodoo."

"Harry," said Hermione reproachfully. "Are you really going to start calling him Jackson. It awfully reminds me of Professor Snape and you know how that turned out."

"You're right," Harry sighed. "We don't know much yet."

"Can't say the shadows aren't cool though," mused Ron distractedly. "Those people at the beginning of term just jumped through them. And that guy who scared Nearly-Headless-Nick. I'd like to see him scare the bloody baron. That would be priceless."

"Even though I did say not to jump to conclusions, Ron does have a point," Hermione said, resting her head on her fist. "The magic that professor Jackson's friends used did look suspiciously like umbrakinesis."

Harry and Ron looked at her blankly. Hermione huffed.

"You really don't concentrate in lessons at all, do you?" She asked with one eyebrow raised. "Umbrakinesis is a type of dark magic such as necromancy or shadow manipulation. And as you probably don't know, necromancy is the art of raising the dead."

"I knew that!" Protested Ron. "I just don't see why this is bad."

Even Harry raised an eyebrow at this. Hermione added an eye roll as well.

"How you will ever get a job I don't know," she said. "Anyway, the fact is that umbrakinesis was used by dark wizards and is banned by the ministry. If you use it you get a life sentence in Azkaban. Or worse."

Ron shivered. "I get it now. Umbra-whatsitsname: bad. Azkaban: even worse."

"Actually as Azkaban is the consequence of the action," Hermione corrected, "it is worse to use umbrakinesis while knowing the consequences. Plus, umbrakinesis has caused the death of hundreds of muggles and wizards," she added.

Ron blinked. He opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again.

"Close your mouth Ron," Harry laughed. "Surely you must be used to Hermione by now. Call yourself her boyfriend? Honestly."

Hermione and Ron blushed beet red. "I-I'm n-not her b-b-boyfriend," Ron stuttered.

"Yeah you are," replied Harry in a duh voice. "But in all seriousness, this is bad, knowing that Jackson's friends can perform dark magic."

"I'd say it's more like the dog did umbra-something. And that creepy kid," Ron added. "I actually quite liked those two pranksters. Reminded me blindingly of Fred and George."

"True," agreed Hermione. "The question is, what should we do?"

"Hermione, we can't do anything," said Harry. "We've done the same thing before. Quirrell, the basilisk, dementors, the Triwizard Tournament, the Department of Mysteries, Horcruxes, every year we do something dangerous that we shouldn't do and something bad happens."

"But what if something is actually going on?" Argued Hermione. "We need to find out. And if it does turn out that Professor Jackson is bad, we can tell the headmistress and get him kicked out."

"Or put into Azkaban," Ron contributed.

"But what if he isn't?" Harry asked. "What if he is simply a quirky American that has some strange friends? We are going to be punished."

"I know that," Hermione said. "But if he is bad then what will we do? The worst that can happen is detention and some lost points."

"I honestly feel that you two have swapped positions," Ron added, only to be completely ignored.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Said Harry, waving his arms around.

"I don't know," shrieked Hermione back.

"I think I may be invisible," muttered Ron under his breath, looking on at the argument. "Banana slugs!" he shouted only to be ignored.

"We'll get detention if you're wrong," said Harry.

"Let's take our rubber ducks and go on holiday," Ron shouted.

"One detention won't matter if we are right about him," Hermione argued.

"Never did find out what rubber ducks did," Ron mused.

"It won't just be one detention though. McGonagall will give us three years worth of detention if we are wrong. And that will go on your perfect record 'Mione."

"I hear Florida is nice this time of year."

"No, it's hurricane season over there," Hermione corrected, without even glancing at him.

"Huh. Did not know that."

"Please Harry. Trust me. I don't mind my record being marked if it protects my friends."

"Guys, I was going to break this to you slowly-" Ron started.

"But what if it just puts our friends lives' in danger? What then?"

"-Malfoy is my new best friend."

"WHAT!" both Harry and Hermione exclaimed in unison, turning and looking at Ron in horror.

"Knew that would work," Ron smirked triumphantly.

Hermione had nothing to say. She opened her mouth to deliver a scathing reply but before she could, Ron put one hand on each of their chests and placed himself between the two glaring friends.

"Listen ladies," he said. "I know it's usually one of you stopping an argument between someone else and me-"

"Someone else and I, Ron," Hermione muttered.

"-but in this particular case I think I should be the peacekeeper."

Ron looked so pleased with himself that Harry just had to snort with laughter. Ron looked hurt.

"Can I not be the peacekeeper?" he asked, pretending to be posh.

Harry snorted again. "Not with that expression."

Hermione shook her head. "You two...please take this seriously. We have to find out if Professor Jackson is up to something."

"I'm afraid I'll have to side with Hermione on this one," said Ron. "We must find out what he is doing."

Harry clearly didn't like it but agreed to participate. Hermione plopped down onto the ground.

"So, how should we do this?"

"I dunno," said Ron, sitting down next to her and rubbing his chin. Harry joined them on the ground and looked at them.

"I dunno either," he said. Hermione sighed and looked to the sky as if she was saying, _why am I friends with these idiots?_

"It's obvious, isn't it," she said, rather priggishly, "the Marauders Map and the Invisibility cloak. We can find him on the map and watch him without him knowing."

Ron nodded. "Sooooooo...just like we always do. Rather nosy isn't it?"

"Oh, I wouldn't call it being nosy," Hermione assured, "we're just...inquiring as to what he's up to."

"So basically what I said."

Hermione huffed. "No! Yes. Maybe."

"Guys, lets just get on with it," Harry interrupted. "Come on, we need to get the Map and Cloak."

They all three got to there feet and walked in the direction of Hogwarts, back to the common room.

When they arrived Harry immediately went up to the dorms and brought down the Map and Cloak. He glanced around. There were a few fifth-years studying for OWLs and one first-year reading in a comfy armchair. Why they were in here at all when the weather was so nice Harry didn't know.

The three friends ran out the common room and into a deserted classroom. Harry pulled out the map and his wand.

 _"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ ," he chanted, tapping the map. The familiar lines of Hogwarts slowly appeared, creating the rooms and corridors of the school that Harry knew so well.

"Can't believe Fred and George never told me about this," Ron grumbled. "Don't trust their own brother."

"I can't see his dot," said Harry, baffled. "Where is it?"

The three looked up at each other.

"Room of Requirement!" they chorused.

~ ~ ~ Page Break ~ ~ ~

Harry looked up at the wall where the Room of Requirement should be. It had been burnt in the FiendFyre so he wasn't sure whether it still worked.

 _I need the place where Professor Jackson is. I need the place where Professor Jackson is._ Harry walked up and down three times, thinking hard. _I need the place where Professor Jackson is._

He looked up to see the familiar door set in the wall, as if it had always been there. He glanced over at Hermione and Ron, who cheered.

"Well done mate," Ron said. "Ya' did it."

"Never mind that," Hermione said. "We know the room will work for us. We've done it before. We just need to be grateful that the Professor didn't specify no pupils while he's in there."

"Ssshhh," Harry shushed. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak over the three of them, bending down so their feet wouldn't be seen. He slowly pushed the wooden doors open and stepped into the room.

They were in a training arena. There were raised stands for spectators and a rack covered with various weapons: swords, spears, daggers and bows that looked like they came straight from ancient Rome and Greece.

In the centre of the sand arena were some stuffed straw dummies that held swords and looked like they had been charmed to fight. They were fighting against someone Harry couldn't see, but assumed was Professor Jackson.

Hermione gasped as one of the dummies' heads got sliced off by a sharp bronze sword. It was Professor Jackson. He was shirtless and fighting like a whirlwind against the constant barrage of approaching enchanted dummies.

Harry gasped as he seemed to be about to be stabbed by a spear. Quicker than Harry could see, the professor rolled behind it and sliced its sword arm off. Harry glanced at Ron to see his mouth forming the word 'wow'.

Harry had to agree. The speed at which he dodged and parried attacks was astounding. There were at least ten enchanted dummies against him and he was still easily winning.

He twisted around suddenly so his back was facing them. They all three gave a silent gasp at the sight. His back was riddled with scars, one long one running from just below his left shoulder down to his right hip and many criss-crossing over it.

The professor decapitated the last dummy and threw his sword down. He sat down on the stands and pulled on an orange shirt with words reading Camp Half-Blood on. He glanced up and seemed to spot them. How, Harry didn't know, since they were wearing the invisibility cloak, but he hastily pulled on a arm-guard to hide the black mark on his arm.

"You seem to have found me," he said wryly. "The Come-and-Go Room is a marvellous place, no?"

Harry glanced at his friends. They shrugged and dropped the cloak. Busted.

"What do you want?" the Professor asked wearily. "Why are you here?"

"Ummm.. We were..."

"Wanted to ask about the homework you gave us," Hermione improvised. The Professor gave a short laugh.

"We both know that's not true," he said. "Just say what you're thinking."

"How did you get those scars?" Ron clamped his hand over his mouth as soon as he said it. Hermione stamped hard on his toe.

"Ron! How insensitive!" she admonished. The professors face seemed to darken.

"That's none of your business," he said. Harry waited, despite this less-than-invitation, while the professor stood up and walked over to the destroyed dummies. He bent down and picked up the swords that they were using, putting them carefully on the weapons rack.

He took out his wand and vanished the dummies with a flourish. "Magic is so useful," he muttered.

"What were you doing sir?" asked Harry curiously, once he was done. To his relief the professor didn't take it badly.

"I have to keep in shape, don't I," he replied with a small smile.

"Where are you from? Why did you volunteer to teach here? What was-"

"That is none of your business," he said, deadly calm. "You have no right whatsoever to pry into my personal business."

He stood up swiftly and turned his back on them, a clear sign of dismissal. The boys looked like they were about to protest but they were dragged out of the room by Hermione.

Harry took one last glance back. The professor was sitting again, this time with his head in his hands, just as if he had seen unimaginable horrors that he would rather forget.

 **CUT!**

 **Apologies everyone, I have been a horrible person by not updating, but now it's the holidays and I can update more often (hopefully.)**

 **I am currently writing this while in a little apartment in a ski resort in France. It's really fun, despite the on-and-off fog that has been gracing the slopes. Now for reviews.**

 **gsunny6: *smiles* I respect your smiles. And I smile back. *smile***

 **Aviendhaphiragon: it is like that isn't it. Huh. I didn't notice until now. Thanks for pointing it out**

 **Amelia Loves Anime: I may do something like that. If Fred and George did meet Connor and Travis, it would definitely end in disaster. And Annabeth would be a great teacher, wouldn't she. I might just take you up on that in a few chapters.**

 **annabeth tan granger: So many ideas you have. I may put in a few of those, 'cause they sound great. Thanks! Also, I'm British...so I call it a sofa.**

 **Guest Girl: I have started to plan out the next chapters and I am looking for somewhere to put it in. Thanks for the great idea!**

 **Solangelo123: I hate myself too sometimes. I have written the next few chapters and will definitely try to write more.**

 **theblue-hairbrush: DON'T WORRY! I WILL TRY AND PULL YOUR SATISFACTION OUT THE DRAIN. Hopefully. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Lexi: Thanks!**

 **Guest: Yeah, although I may do a 'Demigods go to Hogwarts as well someday.**

 **Anonymous: I will continue! And Connor and Travis bring smiles wherever they go, don't they.**

 **Guest girl: Favourite fanfiction? Really!? I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! THANK YOU!**

 **Guest girl: Unfortunately, I haven't seen Monsters High, but my sister has. I could ask her.**

 **Guest girl: The next chapter is here!**

 **1 WEEK LATER: So, I am actually putting this on fanfiction after my holiday in France, as I didn't have any WiFi, but...no worries.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

All congratulations go directly to J.K. and Uncle Rick. Thanks guys!

The next morning at breakfast, Professor Jackson was handing out notices to the Gryffindors and directed a glare at Harry as he passed. This was not unnoticed by Neville who also sent them a sharp look.

Harry looked down at his plate and pushed his bacon and eggs around with his fork, muttering replies to the excited chatter all around him.

As soon as Ron and Hermione finished their breakfast, Harry seized their arms and pulled them out, well aware of the fact that Neville was following them. He dashed down the corridors, hoping to reach the common room before Neville could catch them.

Unfortunately they were cornered in the charms corridor, just outside Professor Flitwick's classroom. Neville looked angrier than Harry, Ron or Hermione had ever seen. Even when the Carrows had taken over Hogwarts he didn't look this scary. Back then was just a calm determination.

"What did you do to get Professor Jackson mad?" he questioned threateningly.

"Nothing, nothing at all...I don't know what you're talking about," Ron tried to lie. "I'm sure you're just pulling my foot."

"Pulling your leg, Ron," Hermione corrected under her breath.

"We both know you're lying," Neville took one step forward. "What. Were. You. Doing."

Hermione glanced at her friends. "We wanted to know what he was doing and why he came to England when he didn't help in the war and only now showed up, so we used the Marauders Map and the Invisibility cloak to find him and it just so happened that he was training and we asked him some questions but he told us to leave so we did," Hermione said in one breath.

"Wow, take a breath Hermione," Ron murmured in her ear. Neville looked murderous.

"You WHAT?" Neville exclaimed, uncharacteristically angry. "You walked in on a _Praetor_ while he was training and didn't apologise! What is wrong with you? These training sessions are the only way he can blow off some steam at the fact he has to come here. Granted, the Giant War was two years ago, but still! He had to postpone his wedding. The whole of Camp Half-Blood was-"

Neville clapped a hand over his mouth. "Ignore that last part," he said quickly. "But seriously, you couldn't even apologise, could you?"

He held their gaze for a moment. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked down at their feet. To tell the truth, they had been feeling rather guilty about interrupting the professor in the Room of Requirement.

Suddenly footsteps were heard coming down the corridor. Professor Jackson turned the corner, and by the hard look on his face, he had heard the entire conversation. Harry looked up.

"Sir, I would like to apologise," he blurted. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to intrude whilst you were training and asking so many questions."

"Yeah," added Ron, "sorry."

The professor's face softened slightly at the apology and his signature lopsided smile appeared back on his face.

"Don't worry Harry, I forgive you," he said, "but don't come walking in on me again, 'kay?"

Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thank you Sir."

"Now, you better start getting ready to go to your lessons while I talk to Neville. I don't think Severus would like you to be late."

Ron and Hermione shuddered and scampered off down the corridor, Harry lingering for a second longer. He looked over at Neville and saw a him looking down at his own feet and scuffing the floor with his toe; a stark contrast to a few minutes ago.

Neville looked up and Harry could see awe and admiration swelling in his eyes. It was obvious that he looked up to Professor Jackson, and Harry was sure it wasn't just because he was a teacher.

Harry walked away, acting casual. He could see Ron and Hermione waiting for him at the end of the corridor but pulled them around the corner so that they could hear Neville and Professor Jackson's conversation.

"What are you doing?" whispered Hermione fiercely. "Why are you suddenly so eager to spy on him? Yesterday it took Ron to convince you. Ron. And he's the least convincing person I know."

"Hey!"

Hermione elbowed Ron into silence and looked expectantly at Harry. Harry just shrugged.

"I dunno really," he admitted. "I just have a funny feeling about him. He feels a bit like Lupin. Not quite human."

"I don't think he's a werewolf."

"No. Of course! I had no idea Ron!" Hermione said sarcastically.

"What? Really Hermione?" he frowned. "I thought you of all people would have realised- oh. Oh. It was sarcastic... Yeah... I got that."

Harry looked at him strangely then shook his head. "Shh. Let's listen."

"-gave too much away," Neville was rambling. "It's just that you've been my mentor for years, since I was claimed after the Titan War and it made me really angry that they would do something like that and not apologise and I know that it was silly so-"

"Whoah, whoah there," the professor interrupted. "What are you talking about? It's like you want me to tell you off. You of all people should know that telling people off is really against my nature. If it were Reyna or Annabeth it would be a completely different story."

They both shuddered. Neville nodded in agreement.

"Those girls are scary."

"Agreed. Anyway, I know what it's like to be mad at someone. Many times I have argued with Thalia. Many times it was over who should lead the games of Capture-the-Flag. Chiron would always give us cleaning up duty when that happened. Then again, I don't need to now, since she's a hunter."

Neville grinned. "You still get into arguments," he said. "She'll zap you and you'll douse her."

The professor rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. Her lightning is painful. She's got stronger too. Anyway, just try to be more careful, 'kay."

"Yeah, thanks Percy."

"Hey, hey, hey," the professor protested, "that's Professor Jackson to you."

"I won't call you Percy, Praetor," Neville teased.

"Why does everyone call me that?" he moaned. "I was only Praetor for literally a few hours before we were whisked away on the Argo II. And Jason gave Frank Praetorship over Camp Jupiter while I was...in the pit."

"Yeah, but you are the only honorary Praetor the Legion has ever had," Neville argued. "Plus, you technically are Praetor of Camp Half-Blood since we adopted some of Camp Jupiter's traditions and stuff."

Professor Jackson pouted. An expression that somehow seemed was used a lot by him. He looked like a baby seal. Neville fell into peals of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," the Professor muttered. "You better get to lessons. Breakfast finished five minutes ago."

Neville suddenly stopped laughing and looked pleadingly at Professor Jackson. "Can't you tell Severus that you kept me behind. He will literally murder me if I'm late."

"Haha. You have to deal with it. Besides, murdering is more Nico's style."

Neville raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen Severus's array of poisons? It's terrifying."

"You better get going then. See you."

"See you."

Harry pushed his two friends against the wall as Neville sprinted past them to get to lessons. Harry slowly released them as he heard Professor Jackson's footsteps retreating in the opposite direction.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked, completely confused. "It was like they were really close."

"For once, Ron is right," Hermione agreed. "It was like they knew each other. Well, we do know that Neville is definitely on our side. He cut off Nagini's head and destroyed the horcrux with the Sword of Gryffindor and his mysteriously acquired sword skills. So why is he helping someone so obviously dodgy?"

"I don't know," Harry replied thoughtfully. "But let's worry about that after Snape's lesson."

The three of them paled and sprinted off in the direction of the dungeons, completely forgetting to collect their stuff from the common room. Let's just say that Snape was most definitely not pleased, and the potions cupboard has never been cleaner.

 **So...two chapters as an apology. Maybe three. Depends how fast I can write the next one.**

 **Anyway, over here in France the weather is beautiful and I went down a red slope today! I'm really happy about that. Plus I fell over face-first in the powder snow while our ski instructor took us off-piste. Apparently all the rest of the group could see were my skis flying around the corner in the air. So fun. I face-planted and got snow all down my neck. It was amazing. But wet.**

 **1 WEEK LATER: So...as I am putting this on FanFiction, it is actually the end of my skiing holiday. It has been one of the greatest holidays I have ever experienced and I have a dozen stories about how me, my friend and my sister went on many of the slopes and even into the next valley. We fell over many times, did a great deal of jumps and never got bored of going on the chairlifts. So great.**

 **The downside, however, is that in the apartment we stayed in, we couldn't get wifi. We had no wifi for a week! It was painful. We went to a restaurant with free wifi, but it was so slow I could barely get onto the internet or access my emails. Or perhaps I'm just used to the speedy wifi I have in my house.**

 **The journey home was tedious. We were driving. My sister was travel-sick on me, and to add insult to injury, she was sick while reading this fanfiction! SO UNFAIR! The journey was 14 hours long and I made my friend laugh so much she spat water on me. My parents told my friend embarrassing stories about when I was a baby and naturally we had to wait for an hour and a half at the EuroTunnel to board.**

 **Despite all this boring jibber-jabber about my holiday, it was great! Skiing is amazing and I will now cut to the point and answer reviews!**

 **shiningsilverwolf: Thanks!**

 **chameleonunlimited3: I will not leave you hanging!**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: I know...poor Percy. And yes, first week of the holiday is gone and we have two more weeks. Lucky us!**

 **SwordOfTheGods: I feel so embarrassed. I usually pride myself on grammar...guess I got this one wrong. Thanks for pointing it out!**

 **Daughter of Ares 74 77: Thanks! I give you the next chapter!**

 **gsunny6: So many times. Sometimes I wish I had a mind palace like Sherlock where I can keep all the important things in my life. Like fanfiction stories, new ideas, reviews that I posted, the best stories I read, quotes from the books, best fanart I've seen and of course, the books themselves. My main priority.**

 **Pinkgrl999: I will give you the next chapter! Thanks for the enthusiasm. Love your PenName by the way. Also, I think that the reason that Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't ask Percy about how he could see through the cloak is because they were preoccupied with other stuff. Then Ron was rude and he threw them out. So, no time to ask. Plus, the only other people to see through the cloak were Mad-Eye Moody (not very comforting) and (possibly) Dumbledore. So it's not new. (Have I mentioned I love your PenName? I do.)**

 **Guest: If Travis and Connor met Fred and George, there would most definitely be mayhem. Unfortunately I can't think of any good pranks...so I may need help with that.**

 **That Girl Who Lived: *Trembling in fear* I will not be the cause of your death...I would never do that! So, instead, I have updated. Thanks for the review!**

 **The God of Animals: Thanks!**

 **elephantlover123: Thank You!**

 **Amelia Loves Anime: Yes, Percy doesn't have the most pleasant of pasts, does he? I feel for the guy...it's what fangirls do. And the Golden Trio don't help at all, thank you very much. Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest: I will!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Everything belongs to two of the greatest authors ever: J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Professor Jackson had become a lot more civil since Harry's rushed apology and was helping them improve by leaps and bounds. This didn't lessen their suspicions however. Quirrell and Moody had both seemed kind or harmless enough, look what happened to them.

When half-term rolled by and they had just over a week off school, Harry had assumed that he would be staying at Hogwarts. But oh, no. Mrs Weasley had insisted that he come and stay at The Burrow.

Apparently Professor Jackson was staying there too, America being too far to travel for just a week. Even Hermione had decided to stay as well.

Harry, Ron and Hermione got swept up in the crowd of people going from Hogwarts heading to the Hogsmeade and passing by the Hogshead Inn to get to the Hogwarts Express.

Really, it only just occurred to Harry, but by Professor Jackson's bewildered expression as he looked from school to inn, around the village and at the train, it was quite obvious to him that these wizards had something for pigs.

Harry pulled his two friends into the train and sprinted down the corridor, trying to find an empty compartment. He found one near the back and sat down with a sigh. Ron pulled out a game of exploding snap and set it up while Hermione hauled out of her bag a huge book that had tiny writing and was so complicated that Ron was lost on the first page.

"This is such an enlightening book," she was babbling, "considering it was written in Victorian times. It is fascinating how humans have evolved over millions of years and- Ron! Are you even listening?!"

Ron, who was engrossed in his game, just nodded distractedly. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. SNAP! I got it! What was that Hermione?"

"I said that this was an enlightening book that shows the path of human evolution," she huffed.

"Sure, sure...what was it called again?"

"Honestly Ron. It's called _On the Origin of Species_ by Charles Darwin. He was a great man. He was the first one to publish ideas about evolution and how humans change over time."

"Ah. Of course he did. SNAP! Damn it Harry, you win. Rematch?"

Hermione turned away from Ron as he obviously wasn't listening and continued to read. The train started with a jolt and started to puff away from Hogsmeade, wheels clicking on the tracks.

Harry and Ron were disturbed from their (not so quiet) game of snap, as the door to the compartment opened. Hermione didn't even glance up at the newcomer, assuming it was another noisy boy or an admirer trying to get a glimpse of The Boy Who Lived.

"Not much of a welcome here, is it?" said the newcomer, amusement in his voice.

"Professor Jackson!" exclaimed Harry, "what are you doing here?"

"Well," he replied, "for starters Severus turned me out of his compartment and Neville was showing Luna and Draco a mysterious plant that I do not want to know the properties of, so they were out of the question. Second, do all first-years have ADHD? They are running up and down the corridors like...like Leo on caffeine. And that's a dangerous mix." He shuddered at the thought. "Plus, I'm gonna be staying at the Burrow for a while and I might as well get to know you."

He plopped down opposite Hermione and looked at the book she was reading. " _On the Origin of Species._ Annabeth made me read that. Back then I literally could not understand a word of it."

"Oh it is great," Hermione replied. "It is simply amazing how-"

She leapt into the middle of a long-winded explanation about the book and what it was about, much to the dismay of Ron, who put his hands over his ears and mimed choking. Harry laughed at his expression and slapped his hand down on the last snap pile, setting off explosions and fireworks.

Professor Jackson laughed at the twisting pattern of colour and continued to start an incredibly interesting conversation about America.

By the time the Hogwarts Express chugged in at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at Kings Cross, Professor Jackson had won five games of exploding snap and had a huge conversation with Hermione about the comparisons between Britain and America. So far they had come up with:

 _\- Bigger population of magical folk in England_

 _\- America does not have proper magic schools_

 _\- Different types of magic practiced in different states_

 _\- America has a wider range of elemental wizards_

 _\- No, Ron, they are not mutants and most certainly do not know Professor X_

 _\- American wizards are mainly half-bloods_

Percy hadn't actually meant to bring up the topic of half-bloods, but it had slipped out after Ron's ridiculous comment about mutants. How did a wizard even get ahold of _X-Men_? Weren't wizards literally living in the eighteenth century?

It was safe to say that they were exhausted by the time they gathered themselves, climbed into the magically extended car that Mr Weasley provided, and drove all the way back to the Burrow.

Mrs Weasley met them outside the house, fussing over them and saying they needed to eat more. Nerida flew up onto Mrs Weasley's magical clock on which all the arrows where pointing to home (Bill, Charlie and Percy W. had gotten time off) and hooted loudly.

"I'll get you tuna in the morning Nerida," Percy grumbled, reaching up and trying to swat her down. Nerida gave what could only be described as a squawky laugh at her owner jumping up and down trying to reach her.

Percy looked up and waggled his finger at her sassily. "Now don't you get smart with me, feathers. I'll give you rotten tuna after you take my letters. You don't want that, do you?"

She gave a short hoot and flew down from the clock, deliberately landing on Percy's head and twisting her claws into his hair. She looked way too pleased with herself.

Hermione tilted her head thoughtfully at the exchange. "Professor, how does Nerida get to America so quickly?" she asked.

"I don't actually know," he replied, attempting of pull her off his head. "Probably gets there quicker since she's a Water Phoenix and America is right across the pond."

"The pond?" asked Mr Weasley, dragging Ginny's trunk inside and dumping it on top of the steadily growing pile.

"The Atlantic Ocean," Hermione supplied. "But Professor, how does it work? I know she's a Water Phoenix but that doesn't explain it. Does she have some sort of magic?"

"Like I said, I don't know," the Professor said. "But I could ask her if she gets her claws out my hair!"

"You won't get an answer though," Harry laughed. "She's only a bird."

Nerida straightened up and ruffled her feathers, sticking her beak up in the air snootily. She stepped daintily off Percy's head, much to his relief, and settled herself on his shoulder, hooting the whole time

"I don't mean her as in Nerida...she probably doesn't know herself," Percy corrected hastily. "I could ask my half-sister however. She likes violent sea storms."

"She does?"

"Yeah, tried to drown me once."

"She can't be the nicest half-sister."

"Well...she is older than me," the Professor said. "By a few thousand years," he added under his breath. Harry shook his head, thinking he had misheard.

"What's her name?" Hermione asked.

"Kymopoleia, but I just call her Kym. It's easier."

"You don't say," Ron murmured.

At that moment Mrs Weasley came clattering up to the group, carrying a steaming pot of stew and wearing oven gloves.

"Everyone, I've made a stew for dinner, come and sit down."

Ron's mouth was watering as he looked at the pot and with no hesitation trotted after his mother. Hermione shook her head and went too, followed by the rest.

They trooped into the kitchen to see Bill, Charlie and Percy Weasley sitting there. Ron was already reaching for the ladle to serve himself a helping. Mrs Weasley slapped his hand.

"Ronald, what have I taught you about manners? Your brothers have time off to visit and we have guests. Let them have the first serving."

"Yes mum," he murmured grumpily, rubbing his hand and pouting.

"Who kicked your puppy?" Percy laughed, sitting down opposite him.

"I don't have a puppy and if I did I would not let anyone kick it."

"It's not actually-" Hermione started. "Actually, don't worry about it."

Dinner was quiet and pleasant. The stew was absolutely delicious and everyone found themselves having seconds or, in Ron's case, thirds. They were ridiculously happy and full by the time the pot had been emptied and Mrs Weasley went back to fussing over them.

"That's enough, I'm sure you're all tired, time to go to bed," she admonished, shooing them upstairs where she had magically added a whole new wing of rooms.

"Goodnight Professor Jackson," Hermione said.

"Goodnight Professor," Ron and Harry chorused.

"Ah, don't worry about all that stuff and nonsense," Percy replied. "Call me Percy while we're not at Hogwarts. Besides, I'm only a few years older than you."

Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Hermione smiled.

"Okay...Percy," she said. "Goodnight."

~ ~ ~ Page Break ~ ~ ~

The next day Harry trooped down to breakfast to see Percy guzzling down a pizza covered in cheese and pepperoni. Hermione and Ron came in behind Harry, holding hands. Mrs Weasley looked up at them from laying the table.

"Now I hope you two haven't been up to any funny business," she said, putting one hand on her hip and waving her other hand at them.

Ron completely missed the chair he was about to sit on and blushed a deep red from the floor. "Mum!" he exclaimed.

Percy laughed at his expression. "Don't worry," he said, "my mum and my camp director both would always say that when my girlfriend stayed with me. And don't even get me started on Mr D."

He took another bite out of his pizza. Mrs Weasley and Hermione looked on with identical expressions.

"You will ruin your teeth and your health by eating pizza at breakfast," Hermione chided.

"You sound like my fiancé," he said, taking another bite.

"Fiancé!" Harry exclaimed. "You have a fiancé and you still took the DADA job?"

"Well...yeah. It's not like I'm gonna refuse and be killed in a nasty, painful way."

"Killed, dear? Why would you be killed? Who would kill you?" Mrs Weasley fretted.

"Oh, it's nothing," Percy assured, "I just have a scary, super powered, short-tempered family. And I always manage to make them angry, so much so that most of them do want to kill me. Or, in Mr D's case, turn me into a dolphin."

"Why do you go back then?" Mrs Weasley was aghast.

"All my friends are there," he pointed out. "Plus, they are my family. My dad is actually quite cool, compared to the rest of my family. Had a huge row with him and my fiancé's mum about dating and marrying Annabeth."

"Who's Annabeth?" Fred asked, walking down the stairs with George, having not heard the first part of the conversation. "Did I-"

"-hear you-"

"-are marrying-"

"-her?"

Percy smiled dreamily. "Yes, I am."

"But aren't you worried about the curse?" Harry asked, "the one on the Defence Against The Dark Arts job?"

"Yeah, all the teachers so far have had stuff happen to them," Ron agreed.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's only a curse," Percy dismissed with a wave of his hand, "besides, I'm getting married at the end of this year anyway."

Harry dropped the topic, not wanting to break it to him that the majority of the teachers had lost their minds, memory and in some cases, their life.

~ ~ ~ Page Break ~ ~ ~

"So, what do you do for fun around here?"

"We could read."

"I'm dyslexic."

"What's that."

"It means he has trouble reading."

"We could-"

"-always-"

"-have a-"

"-prank-"

"-war!"

"No. No prank war."

"Awwwww! But _Professor_!"

Harry sighed. They were sitting in the garden after being turned out by Mrs Weasley. Apparently they were not allowed to practice disarming charms inside the house and especially not in close proximity to Mrs Weasley's favourite china set.

He flicked his wand at a gnome that was poking out the tall grass, sending it flying back onto its bottom. The gnome waved a small fist and shouted something incomprehensible before scurrying back into his burrow.

"-do you think Harry?" Hermione was asking. Harry looked up in surprise at being addressed.

"What?"

"I said, we need something to do. What do you think?"

"Why don't we have a mini game of Quidditch?" Harry suggested. "I can get my broom and we can get the others to join in too."

There was a chorus of agreement among the people gathered. Percy tilted his head slightly.

"What's Quidditch?"

"How do you not know what Quidditch is?" Fred asked, mouth agape.

"We don't have it in America," Percy shrugged. "Can you explain the game?"

"Basically, there are seven players on a team: three chasers, two beaters, a seeker and a keeper," Harry explained. "There are four balls, each used for different things. The Quaffle is the big one, used by the three chasers to score points in the three hoops. Each time they score the team is awarded ten points. The Bludgers are the two identical balls. They fly around the pitch trying to knock as many players as possible off their brooms. It's the jobs of the beaters to hit them away from their team towards the opposing team with a bat. The last ball is called the Golden Snitch. It is very small and has to be caught by the seeker. Once the Golden Snitch is caught, the game is over and the team that caught it is awarded one-hundred-and-fifty points."

Percy nodded, eyes slightly glazed. "Cool. I think I got that. Anything else I need to know? Like, why you wanted to get a broom?"

"The whole game is played on broomsticks."

"Broomsticks? Really? Must be incredibly uncomfortable."

"They have a cushioning charm so that it is less uncomfortable."

Percy nodded slowly. "I think I can play that."

"Good. I'll grab the brooms and we can get flying!"

"Sorry...did you just say flying?"

"Well...yeah. Ya know...flying broomsticks...what else?"

"On second thought, I'll just watch," Percy decided. "I don't fly."

"You flew on an aeroplane to get to England," Hermione pointed out.

"That was different!"

"Different, how?"

"Miss Mystical would have turned me into a farting weasel if I didn't! Or a labrador! And if she didn't do that, she would probably curse me to Hades instead!" Percy exclaimed. "I'll just watch."

"I thought you didn't mind curses," Hermione said.

"It's different coming from _Her_ ," Percy argued. "That lady has some serious magic."

George shrugged. "Sure. Whatever. I'll get Bill and Charlie to play. D'ya think Percy will play if I ask him?"

"I just said I wouldn't!"

"Not you. My brother, Prefect Percy."

"You know he's not even a prefect any more," Hermione said. George shrugged again.

"Percy went on about it so much that he'll always be a Pinhead- I mean, Prefect. Pinhead Percy."

Fred and George giggled and took off in the direction of the house, returning a few minutes later dragging Charlie, Bill and a very disgruntled Percy Weasley.

"Great!" Harry exclaimed, "let's get into teams."

"Fred and I can be a beater for each team," George decided.

"Good idea," Harry agreed, "Charlie can be the seeker for Fred's team and I'll be the seeker for George's team."

"I'll be chaser for Fred's team," Ginny said, "and Ron will be chaser too."

"That leaves Hermione and Bill to be chasers for George's team," Harry finished.

Charlie shrugged. "Why not? I used to play seeker for Gryffindor when I was at Hogwarts."

"Yeah! You hear that? We're gonna win!" cheered Fred, giving Ginny a high five.

"I want to be a keeper," Ron grumbled under his breath. "Why can't there be a keeper?"

"We don't have enough people Ron," Hermione told him, exasperated, "we could, but the two Percy's don't fly."

"No I don't!" both of the Percy's exclaimed in unison. They looked at each other for a second before bursting into sharp peals of laughter.

"That's weird," Fred whispered loudly to George.

"I can see," George replied.

"Did you ever think..."

"I thought it was impossible-"

"Never thought I would see the day."

"You said it my brother."

"Couldn't agree more Georg-y boy."

"What? What is it?" Percy W. interrupted. The twins looked at each other.

"You laughed!" cried George in mock horror.

"I laugh all the time!"

Fred and George just cackled and held out their arms, broomsticks flying into their hands. They flew up and got into position in the air, one on each side. Bill put two fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. The game began.

Ginny grabbed the Quaffle and set off towards the opposing goal posts, but dropped it as the single Bludger they were playing with zoomed straight towards her and knocked her upside-down. It then descended into a mad scrabble for the ball, Hermione, Bill and Ron fighting over it.

It was rather fun, actually. Percy W. cheered for Fred's team and Percy J. cheered for Harry's team, each shouting encouragement and support to the players.

In the end, it turned out to be a longer match than expected, Fred's team winning out of the sheer number of well-trained players and a certain clump of mud thrown by Fred that was definitely not aimed for Harry's glasses. Harry did however catch the snitch, the score ending at 210 for Harry's team and 220 for Fred's.

The whole group tromped into the house at twilight, as the sun was setting, to join Mr and Mrs Weasley for dinner, looking forward to the rest of the holidays.

 **I am back. I promise I am not dead. 98% sure I am not dead.**

 **So this was a whopper of a chapter, you have no idea how long it took to write. Except you do know because I haven't updated. *Winces* Sorry about that.**

 **ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE...I have just ordered Rick Riordan's new book** ** _Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle_** **and I am waiting in agony for it to arrive. I am in a similar situation for J.K. Rowling's book** ** _Harry Potter: The Cursed Child_** **. I cannot believe they are both coming out with their own books at almost the same time! It's gonna be heaven!**

 **Anyway...onto reviews for this chapter.**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: You are so lucky that your family all like the same thing. I'll talk about books, my sister will talk about toys, my mum will talk about marshal-arts and my dad will talk about climbing. Throw in my best friend listening to music and we have one crazy car trip. I love Neville too!**

 **Slytherin of the Sea: Thanks!**

 **Guest: I'm so sorry to keep you waiting! I hope you like this chapter!**

 **gsunny6: Me too. So annoying. But, if you can't remember what you reviewed at least you can go back and check.**

 **What About Yesterday: Thank you!**

 **throughthelookingglass27: Yes...very suspicious...**

 **Guest: I will try and get the Stolls to meet Fred and George, no promises though.**

 **Siyuan Feng: I know what it's like to be addicted. It is so very annoying.**

 **EricTheEvilDolphin: Whoah! So many ideas! Thanks! I'll look up some pranks and see whether I can fit Camp Half'Blood in somewhere.**

 **Lara Molina: Thanks!**

 **KittyCat and KittyMeow: I will definitely continue this story. Wouldn't give it up for the world. Well maybe not that far...**

 **EricTheEvilDolphin: More ideas! I'll try and fit them in. I like the idea that the Stolls could play a prank on the Weasley twins. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Guest girl: Oh. My. Gosh. If Rick Riordan and J.K. Rowling actually did write a crossover I would soooooo read it. Sooooo read it. It would be amazing.**

 **Youdontseethis: I will update!**

 **Also, Matt has turned up again. He says 'Hey moron, Snape died in the war.' Unfortunately for Matt, I spent the first part of the first chapter of this story explaining that Snape did not in fact die. He got help from his half-brother Nico and survived. Please, Matt, don't insult me. I try my best.**

 **Toodles!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

It was a beautiful hot day when Mrs Weasley sprang the trip on them. She had been hinting at something for days now, but never let slip what she was planning. In fact, she had somehow managed to convince everyone that they were going shopping in London for clothes. Wizards barely even wear normal clothes, so what was with that?

Percy was sitting under a tree, fanning himself with a branch broken off from a tree while Ron, Ginny, Fred and George lay in a heap, piled on top of each other and moaning from the heat. Hermione was staring distastefully while reading a book that was somehow different from the one she was reading two days ago.

"Why is it so hot?" Moaned Fred.

"Its's, like, Autumn," continued George. "Why is it so boiling?"

"If you are too hot to do your twin-speak then it is far too hot," complained Ron.

"I couldn't agree more," said Ginny with a sigh.

Harry turned over onto his front and pressed his face against the grass. "What I don't get this how Hermione and Percy aren't overheating. They're just coolly sitting there!"

Hermione glanced up from her book with an incredulous expression. "Are you a wizard or not?"

"I don't know a spell to cool myself down," Harry replied. "But what about Percy? He hasn't been complaining half as much as we are."

Percy shrugged. "I get it from my dad. Something about the sea in my veins. But, then again it could just be Ap- Fred being nice."

"Hey! I'm always nice!" Fred said indignantly.

"Not you," Percy said. "It's another Fred. This Fred is a big flaming ball of gas."

If it was possible the air around Percy seemed to heat up, even though he was sitting in the shade of the tree. Percy winced.

"Yup, probably shouldn't have said that."

Harry shrugged, too hot and bothered to question what he was talking about. He jumped as red shoes came into his view. He yelped as he looked up at Mrs Weasley.

"Mrs Weasley!"

"Yes, that is me," she said with a twinkle in her eye. Ron sat up warily.

"Mum...are you planning something?" He asked. "I've seen that look before."

"Where?" Asked Fred. "Surely-"

"-it's not on us?" George continued. "We would never even dream of making mischief."

"Not even a single stink bomb-"

"-or firecracker."

"I dream of that reality," Hermione quipped. "Though, I suppose Fred and George must get their mischievous streak from somewhere."

"If you can believe it, I was the mischief-maker of our year when I attended Hogwarts," Mrs Weasley told them.

"No...really? You?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Yes, but I grew out of it," Mrs Weasley replied, slightly sad.

"Does this mean that Fred and George will grow out of it?" Ginny hopefully questioned.

"Not on your life!" Mrs Weasley laughed. "Anyway, I have planned for us to go for two days to a rather beautiful beach in Cornwall. We can apparate there and spend the day on the beach."

Percy jumped up. "Awesome! I can show you how to surfboard."

"What's surfboard?" Ron asked.

"How do you not know?" Percy sputtered in outrage. "Everyone should know what it is, and how to do it."

"I think it would be better just to explain," Harry suggested.

"Yes," agreed Percy, "that would be best. Basically, a surfboard is a long, thin board made of polyurethane or polystyrene foam and covered in layers of fibreglass cloth and polyester or epoxy resin. You stand on the board and the waves will carry you on the ocean."

Hermione frowned. "How did you know that?"

"The great Hermione I baffled," whispered Fred to George.

"Never though I would see the day," George whispered back to Fred.

"I am not baffled!" Hermione replied hotly, "just wondering how Percy knew that. Even I can barely pronounce most of those materials."

"Just think what poor Ron is going through," Ginny smirked, nudging her gaping brother, "he hasn't a clue."

Percy shrugged. "I wanted to study surfing at Uni, but my girlfriend said it wasn't an actual subject. Anyway, shouldn't we be going?"

"Oh, yes of course," Mrs Weasley said, hauling everyone to their feet and telling them to find their swimming trunks and swimming costumes because they were leaving in half an hour. Everyone scrambled to their feet with cries of: "Yes!" "This is gonna be great!" and "We can finally cool down!"

"I'll get the beach umbrella from the garage!" Fred called.

"Why do you even have a beach umbrella?" Harry asked.

"Did you forget that we used to have a flying car? Who knows what else Dad has in there!"

"I'm gonna go grab Bill, Charlie and Pinhead Percy!" George said, running into the house.

Hermione closed her book and took out her wand. "I'll find some sunscreen to stop us burning."

Ron cocked his head. "From where?"

"If there isn't any in my handbag or in my room then I'll apparate outside the nearest village and visit the pharmacy," She said, disappearing with a crack.

Everyone ran from the garden, going off to carry out their own tasks. George apparated away, presumably into Percy (W)'s room, judging by the rather loud shriek coming from that direction. Fred took off in the direction of the garage while the others ran towards their own rooms to gather whatever they wanted to bring.

Ten minutes later, they had all assembled outside the front of the Burrow, Fred dragging behind him a beach umbrella, three spades and a couple of buckets. Obviously there had been more in the garage than he had anticipated. Hermione had returned with four bottles of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses and a wide brimmed sun hat.

"Why can't you just cast a spell to keep us all from being sunburnt?" Ron asked.

"There's not a spell that I know of to do such a thing," she replied haughtily, "wizards aren't exactly known for being outdoors type of people."

"Some are," Harry countered.

"But I cannot base the entire population of wizards on those select few."

"Now you definitely sound like Annabeth," Percy laughed.

Harry frowned. He didn't really know much about this Annabeth character, only that she was like Hermione and was Percy's fiancé. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"Now, come on everyone," Mrs Weasley called. "Ginny, you'll apparate with me as you haven't had your exam yet."

"So unfair," Ginny muttered, taking hold of her mother's arm.

"The place we're going is a small bay which is exclusively for Wizards, meaning it has been made unplottable and has a very strong notice-me-not charm on it," Mrs Weasley instructed. "It's called Wizards' Beach. Boring name, but what can you do?"

"Yeah, she's right," Percy agreed. "I also asked Kym to brew up a huge storm last night, so there will be a lot of driftwood to make a fire when it gets late."

"Awesome!" The twins replied in unison.

"Everyone ready?" Mr Weasley called. Everyone nodded their heads. "Let's go!"

Everyone disappeared in a series of loud cracks. Harry lingered for a second before vanishing too.

Harry stumbled as he landed, falling face-first in the sand. Hermione helped him up, having (unsurprisingly) landed perfectly. He looked around. He was standing on a large sand-dune. In front of him was the ocean, glittering quite close below him. At his back was a myriad of sand paths behind which was a forest.

He was distracted from his surroundings by a shriek of pain. Ron had managed to apparate himself into the middle of a particularly thick patch of spiky dune-grass. He was cursing the spikes while heaving himself up with a grumble and picking his way out of the grass.

"Stupid pointy plants. How are they sharp? It's just grass? And, it was poking me," he complained heatedly as soon as he reached Harry and Hermione. "I kinda just want to cast a vanishing charm on them. Then no-one else will have to worry about it."

"No!" Hermione cried. "The Marram grass is essential to the ecosystem. It is protection against the wind, which would otherwise blow the dunes away, and the stabilisation it offers encourages the growth of other plants."

"Oh. Okay then. Good for the dunes. Doesn't stop it poking me though."

"There are the others," Harry called. "They all managed to land in the same place. How? Wait... I don't see Fred or George. Where..."

"BOO!" Shouted the twins, jumping out from behind a rock onto Ron, who let out a rather unmanly shriek. He slapped his hand over his mouth even as the twins erupted into peals of laughter.

"It's not funny!"

"Aww, is wittle Wonniekins afwaid?" Fred cooed.

"Did us big bad wizards scare the wittle guy?" George asked.

"You didn't scare me."

"That's strange, because your squeal indicated otherwise."

"Maybe it was all the spiky grass that you landed on!"

Ron growled under his breath and lunged for his brothers. They dodged in opposite directions like matadors, sending Ron tumbling head-over-heels down the dune, where he landed in a heap at his mother's feet.

"Hi..." He said weakly.

Mrs Weasley shook her head as Fred and George, still laughing, apparated down to them, earning a glare from Ron. Hermione skidded down the dune at full speed, apparently not bothering to teleport as the twins had done.

"Ron! Are you okay?" She asked. "That can't have been a nice fall."

"Went over some of that grass that you're so fond of," Harry butted in, joining them at the bottom of the dune.

"Hardy har har."

Harry left Hermione to fuss over Ron and walked towards the rest of the Weasley family, who were setting up the beach umbrella and windbreak. Bill was drawing in the sand with his wand with a look of utmost concentration on his face and his eyes closed. Suddenly they snapped open.

"There seems to be a lot of metal washed up on the beach," he said. "I think at least one of them is spelled... Hey, Charlie, d'ya wanna go treasure hunting? I think there may be some awesome stuff."

Charlie shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do."

"Great! Then let's go!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

The two brothers picked up their wands and walked off, leaving the rest of the family, plus Harry, Hermione and Percy, to their own devices. Ginny looked around.

"I'm gonna go rock pooling. There are loads of them by the cliff," she said, picking up a bucket and walking off. Harry looked over at his professor and saw his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Look at those waves," Percy J. murmured.

"I would really prefer not to get wet," the other Percy decided, picking up a rather thick novel and clutching it to his chest.

"Why not? The sea is wonderful today!"

"I prefer to stay here with my books."

Percy J. shrugged. "Your loss." He dived behind the wind break, and in record time changed into a pair of swimming trunks. He grinned widely as a gust of wind ruffled his hair. He turned around and grabbed his wand, waving it around excitedly. A surfboard sprang up out of nowhere as he scooped it up and carried it under his arm, running full-pelt down to the water.

"I'm gonna get changed too," Hermione told her friends. "I haven't been swimming in a while and I rather enjoy it. Besides, surfing sounds like fun. I wonder whether Percy can conjure up a surfboard for me..."

"You like swimming?" Harry asked. "I wouldn't have guessed that."

"There are many things you don't know about me," Hermione huffed, moving behind the wind break and started to change into a wetsuit.

Harry shook his head in puzzlement and turned to watch with admiration as Percy rode the waves with skill and dexterity, almost as if the sea was bending under his will and pushing him faster. Ron whistled in appreciation.

"Wow. That is amazing."

"For once, Ronniekins, you are right," George admitted.

"'Ya know, I think so too," Fred agreed. Then his face lit up. "Hey Forge, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

George's face lit up too. "I think I am."

"The pranks we could play while we're here..."

"Surrounded by sand, water and rock pools... The possibilities are endless..."

They glanced once at each other before taking of in the direction of the cliff, armed with a bucket and spade. Ron shivered. "I dread to think what they are planning."

"Hopefully nothing dangerous," Hermione said, emerging from behind the windbreak, clad in a long-sleeved black wetsuit.

"Can't you just wear a swimming costume 'Mione? After all it's bloody hot," Ron pointed out.

"The sea is cold," Hermione replied. "And I don't want to catch a chill."

She turned away and marched down to the sea where she joined her gleefully splashing professor. To everyone's surprise, she took to water like a fish and was very soon surfing alongside an impressed professor.

"You're doing great!" Percy complimented. "You have great balance, you'd be great at horse riding. Or Quidditch, for that matter. You could easily make the team if you would just loosen up."

"I don't particularly like flying," Hermione replied. "That's why I'm so cautious. But surfing on the other hand... I love it."

"I'm glad to hear."

"Ready to go again?"

"You bet!" Hermione grinned joyfully and followed Percy back out to catch the next wave. They laughed as they surfed next to each other like pros. Hermione whooped in glee. "This is amazing!" Suddenly a wave rose out of nowhere and engulfed her. "Not so amazing!"

The wave sent her hurtling off her board and into the sea below, where she was spat up, coughing and spluttering. She glanced to her right, where Percy was and instead of seeing her unusual teacher, she saw...a horse? A rainbow fish horse and a rather large one-eyed man riding it.

"Brother!" The man shouted.

"Brother?" Hermione coughed. "What?"

Percy looked confused, then realisation dawned on him. "Oh...Right, you haven't met yet. Hermione, this is my half-brother Tyson, and Tyson, this is my friend and student Hermione Granger."

"Hello Hermione," Tyson called loudly. "This is Rainbow-" he pointed to the rainbow horse "-and this is Ella." Tyson moved to the side to reveal a red, feathered girl.

"I'm Ella," she said. "Ella likes books. Books, books, books. Words. Ella likes words."

"Hi, Ella, Tyson...Rainbow," Hermione greeted cautiously. "If you don't mind me asking...what are you?"

"I am a Cyclops," Tyson said. "Brother met me when he was thirteen. We fought dodgeball giants together."

Hermione shook her head. "I won't even ask. What about Ella and Rainbow?"

"Ella is a harpy," Ella replied. "Ella used to be stuck with Phineas, but Phineas was nasty, he wouldn't let Ella eat, so Percy challenged him. Percy drank gorgon blood."

Hermione looked at Percy. "Isn't gorgon blood deadly poisonous?"

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "Hehe... I was a bit reckless. And ADHD. But Miss H cast some spells on me, so it's fine. Besides, only blood from the left side is deadly. I had two vials, Phineas took one, I took the other and we drank up."

"Isn't that a bit of a risk?"

"Phineas was the only one who knew the place where we needed to go. Besides, I couldn't just leave Ella and the other harpies. Once Phineas was dead they were free. And Rainbow? She's a Hippocampus."

"A hippocampus?"

Tyson beamed. "A fish-horse!"

Percy turned to look at Rainbow, only to see that she had left. "She must have decided that she didn't want to stay this close to land." Tyson pouted.

"Aww, don't worry big guy," Percy said. "She'll come to pick you up at dusk. Anyway, come on, I need to introduce you to my friends!"

xXx

By the time Tyson and Ella had explained who and what they were, Mr Weasley had lowered his wand and Fred and George had thoroughly made fun of Ron for shrieking at the sight of Tyson's one eye, it was lunch and Mrs Weasley produced sandwiches from nowhere like magic. Of course, she didn't actually because it's impossible for wizards to create food.

Fred sidled up to Tyson. "So...you're a cyclops then?"

Tyson smiled jovially. "I am."

George came up and stood next to his brother. "Can you do any special tricks? Have any talents?"

"I am a general in my father's army! I have a stick!"

Fred glanced at George. "Who exactly is you're father?"

"He lives by the sea. I was a blacksmith in his forges and I was the best out of all the cyclops!"

"You can build?" George asked curiously. "Anything in particular?"

"Anything!" Tyson beamed.

Fred looked behind him at the pitiful beginnings of his sandcastle. "Hey, Harry, Ron and us are building a castle."

"We are?" Harry asked from where he was chatting with Ron.

"Yes, we are."

"Would you like me to help you?" Tyson asked, staring at the castle.

"Yes!"

xXx

As dusk fell upon the beach and the sky was bathed in reds and oranges, Percy pulled his surfboard in from the sea, Hermione right behind, and laughed with her about a wave that had completely wiped him off his board. He grabbed a towel and threw it to Hermione before getting one for himself and rubbing himself down.

"How was the surfing?" Fred asked without turning away from the now fortress that he, George, Ron and Harry had made with great assistance from Tyson. "Catch many waves?"

Percy grinned. "So many. It was great."

"So great," Hermione agreed.

"You were really good at surfing," Percy complimented, "are you sure you've never done it before?"

"I'm sure."

"Ella saw Hermione and Percy surf," Ella squawked. "Kelly Slater. Tom Curren. Best surfers. California. Hawaii. Percy and Hermione should visit."

"Are they surfers?" Percy W asked.

Ella nodded. "Percy should visit Hawaii. Ella likes Sherlock Holmes."

She then launched back into her conversation with Percy W about great novels of the nineteenth century. Percy, apparently, was a big fan of the Bronte sisters. Interesting, if nothing else.

Bill and Charlie had come back from their treasure hunting laden with old coins and amulets. Bill said that a ship carrying enchanted items could have been shipwrecked in a storm centuries ago, and the cargo had been washed up on the beach. He then spent an hour going through them and seeing what their enchantments were and if their were any curses that he needed to break. Charlie had gotten bored in five minutes and instead started to draw caricatures of everyone in the sand.

It was then that Ginny returned from her rock pooling, holding a small plank of driftwood over the top of her bucket. She walked slowly up to Fred and George. They, naturally, asked what she had found. She smiled, she held the bucket out to them and took great pleasure in releasing four crabs that she had collected onto the twins.

"That was for pranking me," she said with a smirk. "I also cast a speed spell on them."

"Aaah!" Screamed George as one came up to him and nipped his toe. "That hurts!"

Ginny put her hands on her hips. "Man up George. It's only a tiny, little crab."

"A tiny little crab that you cast speed spells on!" George clarified.

"Personally I think you should go to Azkaban for cruelty to animals," Fred said, hopping on one foot to avoid the little animals.

"Actually," Ginny said. "As soon as they have nipped each of your toes they will automatically reappear in their own rock pools. No harm done."

"Are you saying that if we let them hurt us they'll go away?" George asked, horrified.

Ginny nodded.

"How could you do that!" Fred shouted.

"You're our favourite sister!" George added.

"Well..." Ginny said. "I'm your only sister, so by that logic I'm also your least favourite sister, meanest sister, nicest sister and most horrible sister."

"Nooo!" Fred and George wailed. Hermione went to stand next to Harry, having just changed out of her wetsuit.

"I never thought Ginny could be this evil," Hermione said.

"Well, there's a reason she's my girlfriend," Harry stated.

"After all, we all know that you could never be downright cruel."

Ron patted down the sand in his bucket. "I'm hungry" he complained.

Percy J perked up from where he was drying his hair. "Why don't we make a fire? Kym made it storm last night so there'll be loads of driftwood."

"I like that idea!" Mr Weasley said. "But, you're not allowed to use magic. Let's do this the muggle way!"

Fred and George groaned from where they had finally managed to get rid of the crabs. "Do we have to?" George asked, looking down at his red feet.

"Yes," Mrs Weasley replied. "This is a lesson to you. If you go around annoying people, they will find a way to get back at you. Now, off you hop."

The twins groaned and got to their feet. Ron mumbled complaints about his rumbling tummy, but got up as well. Bill and Charlie immediately hopped up and ran towards the cliff.

"They must have found some wood by the cliffs while they were treasure hunting," Hermione said, walking off too.

"Hey, wait up," Ginny called, joining her. Tyson smiled widely and jumped up, going along the high tide mark to look for wood, Ella flittering close behind.

Half an hour later, everyone returned carrying piles upon piles of sticks. Unsurprisingly, Bill and Charlie had the most, but the girls had a fair amount too. Ron was just clutching a few small twigs. Fred and George were carrying a pile of thick logs between them and Percy W was holding one or two branches.

"Nice!" Percy J said, walking up to them, Tyson following behind with Ella. "You found loads! Go put them besides mine, just over their."

"Knowing him, he probably found more wood than Bill and Charlie combined," Harry said, walking up to Ginny. To their surprise, it wasn't all that much. In fact, it was less than Harry's pile.

"What were you doing Percy?" Asked George. "You have less than us and we were bitten a thousand times by crabs before we started."

"Yes, but I spent a while looking for and building this," Percy said, showing them a curved stick that had a piece of rope stretched between the ends and another stick that was straight.

Harry was unimpressed. "What's that?"

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Hermione said, waving her hand around in the air. "It's a bow drill, used to make fires if you don't have matches or lighters."

"Or wands," Harry added.

Percy looked impressed. "Well done Hermione, not many wizards know that."

Hermione blushed. "I did a survival camp a few years ago. It was really interesting, so I learned all that I could."

"Sooooo, how does his work?" Fred asked. "Is there a spell in the wood or something?"

"Basically, you loop the string of the bow around the stick - like this - and get a plank of wood - Bill, can you pass me that one, just there? Thanks - and use it to create enough friction to make fire," Percy explained. "I thought it would be interesting to show you how to make fire if you're alone and without a wand."

Percy put the end of the stick on indent on the plank of wood and started moving the bow side to side, creating friction and a light smoking. He got some dead leaves and dried plants and put them by the base of the spinning stick where a small spark set them aflame. He then made a small nest of twigs and put the smouldering leaves there so the twigs would catch alight. Then, once the twigs were burning, he started to feed in larger and larger logs.

"How do you know this?" Harry asked. "Do you lose your wand a lot?"

"You have no idea," Percy laughed, putting in a stick. "It's much easier to make fire when you have Leo around though. He's usually literally on fire. Plus, where I live most of the monsters aren't affected very much by spells, so the primary defence against them are swords and the like."

"When can we eat?" Ron asked.

"When the fire is burning properly," Percy told him.

"When's that?"

"About...five minutes?"

Ron groaned. "That's too long, I'm hungry!"

Percy shrugged and took out his wand, conjuring a packet of burgers and buns. Hermione frowned. "That shouldn't be possible," she muttered. "Exception...Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration..."

Percy conjured up a grill too and started cooking the burgers. When they were done everyone attacked them with gusto. Ron moaned.

"This is so delicious!"

Fred and George looked at each other. "Agreed," they stated in unison.

"Hey Tyson," Percy called. "D'ya want some peanut butter? I conjured some!"

"Yay!" Tyson shouted. "Peanut butter!"

Hermione looked at the jar in disgust. "Do you even know what's in that?"

Tyson looked at her. "Peanut butter."

"...Never mind."

Suddenly Tyson perked up like something was calling him. "Brother, Daddy's telling me to go back now. I'm sorry." He looked really cutely at Percy with that big brown eye of his and Percy just melted.

"Okay, big guy. I'll see you when return at the end of the year. I'll miss you though!" Percy said, giving Tyson and Ella a hug each.

Ella wrapped her wings around Percy. "Ella will miss Percy too. Ella will go back to Rachel and Ella will talk about books! Rachel is making the Sibylline Books. A half-blood of the eldest gods...A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. Rachel thinks that the old lines will give way to the new ones. Goodbye Percy."

She fluttered up to sit on Tyson's shoulder. Tyson laughed and ran down the beach into the waves and waded out until the water was up to his chest. There he met Rainbow, who had come to pick him up.

Ron whistled. "I wish I could pull of that puppy face like Tyson."

Percy turned to him. "He's had lots of practice. Annabeth says that when I do that I look like a seal pup. Oh, speaking of, I was gonna IM Annabeth. You wanted to meet her, didn't you?"

"Annabeth is your fiancé, isn't she?" Harry said.

"Yup," Percy replied happily. "We were going to get married around now, but then Miss H called on me to take up this job and I couldn't refuse, so it's postponed until the summer."

"I must say, I admire your bravery," Bill complimented.

"Why's that?" Percy inquired.

"People say the Defence Against the Dark Arts position is cursed. No-one ever lasted more than a year since...Harry joined Hogwarts. I truly cannot remember a professor before Quirrel. And he died."

"Don't be worry. I'll be fine," Percy assured. "Annabeth tells me I have an uncanny luck about annoying and irritating more powerful beings and surviving." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"It's a drachma," Percy replied. "An ancient coin that we use to communicate and pay for things where I live. Kinda like your Galleons, except we don't have an equivalent of knuts or sickles."

He waved his wand and created a fine mist. Then he cast a lumos charm that created a rainbow through the mist.

"What are you-" started Ron, but was shushed by Percy. He tossed the drachma into the rainbow and called:

"Oh Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Annabeth Chase. Probably at Camp."

"What does this do?" Harry asked. "Is it like Skype?"

"What's Skype?" Percy asked as the rainbow cleared to reveal a beautiful blonde girl sitting in the middle of a green lawn with a laptop on her lap. Fred wolf-whistled. She looked up and had obviously heard Percy.

"Skype is a software application that is used to communicate with people over the Internet," she said, brushing hair out of her face. "Where've you been? It's been weeks Seaweed Brain."

Percy smiled fondly. "Sorry Wise Girl, but I've been busy. I wish I could come and visit."

"I wish I could teach," Annabeth said. "I honestly cannot believe that you were sent. I thought Chiron would convince her to send Lou, or Hazel. In fact, I thought she would send anyone but you."

"Oh, so let's set Leo loose in a school for witches and wizards. Brilliant plan. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Haha."

Harry tapped Percy's shoulder. "Care to introduce us?"

"Oh, sure. Everyone, this is my fiancé Annabeth. Annabeth, meet everyone."

"That is not very helpful, Percy," Annabeth told him.

"Okay, are you ready for this?" Percy took a deep breath. "Meet Ron, Ginny, Fred and George - they are basically the equivalent of the Stolls back at...school - Bill, Charlie, Percy, Mr and Mrs Weasley. This is Hermione, I think you'd be good friends, and this is my almost doppelgänger, Harry Potter."

Annabeth looked sharply at Harry. "So you're him, huh."

Harry looked confused. "What?"

"The Boy-Who-Lived. That's you, isn't it?" Annabeth asked. Harry nodded. "Hazel hates you 'cause her patron won't shut up about you and your adventures. And she wished that she could have gone instead of Seaweed Brain over here. Other than being taught by Ms H - and Percy, Hazel says that she did not like being referred to as 'Miss Mystical' - Hogwarts is the greatest institute of magic in the world."

Harry didn't quite know what to say to that.

"Annabeth, stop intimidating my new friends," Percy chided. "Just because you can gut someone as easily as you can solve Pythagoras Theory does not mean you need to show it."

Hermione perked up. "You know Pythagoras Theory?"

"Yeah, it's quite easy really."

Hermione laughed. "It is, isn't it? I tried to explain it to Ron, but he couldn't grasp even the basics."

"Hey! It was difficult!" Protested Ron. "All the triangles and brackets were confusing!"

"I'm with you on this one," Percy J agreed. "We definitely got girlfriends way out of our league."

"Don't you mean fiancé?" Asked Annabeth slyly.

"Correct again Wise Girl," Percy laughed. "I wish I was with you now."

"So do I," Annabeth replied slightly sadly. "But our family is our family and there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just hope that we can live the rest of our lives." Suddenly a long note sounded from behind Annabeth. "I better go," she said, "it's lunch time. Goodbye."

She blew Percy a kiss and slashed her hand through the mist, making the image disappear.

"You're really cute together," remarked Charlie. "How long have you known her?"

"I dunno really. It must be eight...nine years? But we started going out just after I turned sixteen. Then my aunt-who-hates-me kidnapped me and it all went to Tartarus," Percy said, chuckling almost bitterly. "Literally."

Fred raised an eyebrow. "Your aunt kidnapped you?"

"Yeah...my family is messed up."

George adopted his twin brother's facial expression. "You don't say..."

"Soooo, why didn't you propose sooner?" Bill asked. "I knew Fleur for only a few years before I married her. Of course we were attacked at the wedding but every relationship has its ups and downs."

"Well...it's complicated, but her mom doesn't approve of me and my dad doesn't approve of her because her mom and my dad are arch-enemies," Percy tried to explain. "Then I went missing for eight months and she spends every single day looking for me. Then she finds out that I'm in San Francisco." He smiled fondly. "D'ya know what the first thing she does after not seeing me for eight months?"

"Kisses you?" Harry guessed.

"Well...yes, but only after she judo-flips me in front of the entire camp. That just decided that I should be their leader." He snorted. "They should be incredibly glad that Frank took over. I dread to think what would've happened otherwise."

"You have a crazy life," Harry said. "I mean...even for a wizard."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Well...what's the other half?"

Percy tensed up. "Uh, it's complicated."

"How complicated exactly."

"Um, well..."

"Lay of him Harry," Charlie called, sauntering over to the pair of them. "They're a cute couple and I think that Percy'd better not be killed or they'll never get married, and that'd be a shame."

"Too right," George agreed. He opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by Mrs Weasley calling him over to help pack up.

"You know," Harry commented as the two others left them, "you looked really happy when you got to talk to Annabeth."

"And I wasn't before?"

"There was a certain...underlaying sadness or- or torment about you before, but taking to her really just...lifted it away."

Percy sighed and turned away, making Harry almost miss Percy murmur quietly: "A war will do that to you."

As the family packed up and left, Harry dwelt on what he had heard from his professor. The war against Voldemort had been the only Wizarding War for a long time, besides the first time he rose to power. So where and on what side did Percy fight? And what reason did he have to be sad? A lot was missing, the puzzle was far from complete, but eventually he would put it together and he would show his true colours, so to speak. It only took time.

And while the group of wizards apparated back to the Burrow, not one of them remembered four crabs that had a speed spell cast on them. Let's just say that they became the terror of the rock pools...

 **Uhh...I don't really know what to say.**

 **This really isn't the greatest chapter and I feel like I've really let all of you down by not posting earlier. Sorry. So, so sorry.**

 **But, I just wanted to say again that I am British, so I do spell differently. So expect trousers instead of pants and aeroplanes instead of airplanes. = )**

 **I will attempt to post the next chapter relatively quickly. The key word here being 'attempt'. Thank you to every single one of you who read and review, especially Guest Girl who has constantly been reviewing to tell me to update! Thank you!**

 **Star, xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

It was now slowly getting colder in Hogwarts. Snow had started to fall, despite the recent heatwave, and everyone was shivering. Even so, that did not stop Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons with the Slytherins becoming that little bit weirder.

Harry groaned and let his head thump against the desk. At that moment they were doing the extremely complicated theory behind why Dementors were scared of by the Patronum charm, and why chocolate helped. It didn't help that Hermione was sitting in the row in front of him and was writing with a vengeance, muttering under her breath.

"Hanging in there Harry?" Percy asked good-naturedly.

Harry smiled weakly. "As well as expected, Professor."

"So, not at all well, I take it."

"Sir, why do we have to do this," Ron piped up from besides Harry. "You said you were dyslexic."

"Which is why I have a charm that will change the text to Ancient Greek. It's the only language I can read."

Hermione's head shot up. "You can read Ancient Greek? Why that specifically?"

"I get it from my family," Percy replied with a shrug. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door slamming open.

The entire class looked over to see what the disturbance was, then gasped as their eyes landed on a person who seemed to have misplaced his legs and decided that a goat's made an adequate substitute, before thinking that perhaps only having legs would make the balance uneven, and stuck a pair of horns on his head as well.

The person...goat ran up to the professor and started talking so fast and breathlessly that no-one could make out a word. Professor Jackson waved his hands in a 'calm down' sort of manner.

"Grover!" he shouted, "Slow down, I don't have a clue what you're saying. Also...what happened to your trousers?"

The man-goat took a few steady breaths. "Percy...came to warn you...Thalia and the hunters are coming to hunt some monsters in that big forest outside the castle. Lady H - you were really dumb to call her Miss Mystical - told the hunters about some giant spiders and wolves and all manner of creepy monsters that needed to be hunted and sent them here."

Percy frowned. "What's so bad about that?"

Grover shook his head. "I don't think you understand... Thalia - the man-hating huntress - is coming to a boarding school which is infested with males. What could possibly go wrong?"

"But her patron is coming too, right?"

"No. She's elsewhere hunting a drakon."

"So...Artemis won't be there to tell her to leave the school alone 'cause it's Miss Mystical's favourite place?"

Grover nodded mutely while Percy paled.

"By the gods, we're doomed," he said, charging out the classroom to, assumedly, head Thalia off before she could enter Hogwarts.

"Percy wait!" Grover called. "What should I do?"

Percy stopped. "Good idea," he said. "You teach the lesson while I get Thalia."

"What!" Grover screeched. "I never suggested that! What am I supposed to teach?"

"I dunno. Figure it out yourself Mr Lord of the Wild. Why don't you teach them how to tree-travel or track people with acorns and magic reed pipes? Meanwhile, I have got to go." The Professor dashed out the door leaving Grover huffing exasperatedly.

"Doesn't think about me," he grumbled to himself. There was a quiet cough from behind him, and he turned to see an entire class of curious faces, and a few frightened ones.

"Umm...who are you?" A bushy-haired girl asked hesitantly.

"Blaha-haaa!" Grover bleated, before slapping a hand over his mouth, causing quite a few giggles.

"Why do you have donkey's legs, Mr?" A red headed boy asked.

"They're goat legs!" Grover responded heatedly. "And I'm Grover. I'm Percy's - I suppose you would call him Professor Jackson's - friend."

"Are you a faun?" The bushy-haired girl asked again.

"Satyr! I am not a pathetic faun asking for spare change."

The girl wrote something down before sticking her hand back in the air and waving it around, giving Grover the curious feeling of being interrogated.

"You're a snitch," Malfoy drawled from the back row.

Grover's shoulders slumped. "Oh, just my luck. I had to get the lesson with Malfoy in it."

Many Gryffindors laughed. Harry smirked. Finally here was an American who shared their dislike of Malfoy.

Draco bristled. "I do go to Hogwarts."

"Yes, you boasted very loudly to the Cabin 20. Apparently even casting a simple levitation charm."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I suppose Elm told you that." Groves nodded affirmative. "Then you should know that that dryad is a rumour-monger."

"Says the litter-bug."

"I accidentally dropped that can into the lake that one time. You can't still be mad about that."

"Uh...guys," Neville said.

"It dropped on Elana's head and knocked her out cold while she was sewing!" Grover shouted indignantly. "And she was sitting in the middle of the lake. If you dropped it, how could it have had enough force to knock a naiad out cold?"

"Okay, so I tried out a new spell on the can, happy? Besides, Chiron was coming and I had to get rid of it fast."

"Guys..."

"Because you're not allowed to have soda in Camp."

"When did you become all goody-goody? I had to do washing-up duty for a week because you snitched on me. And Elana put water-weed in my bed that I couldn't get rid of. And the worst is that my mum wouldn't let me get revenge. She said I got my just desert. Revenge goddess my foot."

"Well you deserved-"

"Guys!" Neville interrupted loudly. "I don't think this is the time. And...Grover, I think Hermione's hand is going to come off soon."

Hermione's hand had been waving around trying to get Grover's attention during the entire argument between him and Malfoy. Grover gestured for her to answer.

"Sir," she said, "Professor Jackson called you 'Lord of the Wild'. What's that? And what are dryads? Or that other one...naeds...nayads?"

"Naiads...Hermione, was it? Okay...so, there are these spirits. They're nature spirits. They are connected in some way to nature, so dryads are the tree spirits and naiads are water spirits."

"But how come we've never seen one before?" Hermione asked.

Grover shrugged. "As far as I can tell, you're not in tune enough with nature to be able to see them, but it's just speculation."

"And...Lord of the Wild. Is that you?"

"Damn you Percy," Grover murmured. "Okay, so we satyrs protect the wild. The Council of Cloven Elders oversees this conservation, and are called the Lords of the Wild. I took over from an old satyr called Silenus who died a few years back."

There was a sharp ringing sound to signal the end of the lesson. Students jumped to their feet and poured out to go to lunch. Grover let out a sigh of relief at the end of the lesson and headed off to find a few trees to tree-travel back to Long Island. He had picked up tree-travel after the Giant War, deciding that it took too long to travel like a human and it would be easier to save the environment if he could immediately travel to wherever he needed to be.

Meanwhile, Harry went off to lunch. It started normally. Fred and George putting things in drinks, Ron stuffing his face and Hermione simultaneously scolding him and naming all the elements in the periodic table. The usual. And then the doors of the Great Hall banged open and in marched a dozen girls in silver gear and carrying bows.

There was silence. Absolute silence, only broken by the doors slamming ominously shut. The girl in the front with the black spiky hair and silver circlet stepped forwards. "Minerva, we're staying in the forest. Goodbye."

The girl turned to leave but froze as she heard a wolf-whistle. "Who was that?" She asked, dangerously quiet.

Fred jumped to his feet. "It was me, darling," he said in what was supposed to be a seductive voice. "I'm sure one of you lovely ladies would love to-"

He was cut off as the girl in the front pulled out her bow and in one smooth motion mocked an arrow pointing at Fred's head. There was a shocked silence.

"I am Thalia, lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis," she spat, not lowering her bow, "And we do not submit ourselves to males. Not now, not ever."

The intensity of the moment was interrupted by the doors banging open and a very flustered looking Professor Jackson running in. "Minerva, Thalia and the hunters-" he stopped short at catching sight of the scene in front of him, "-are right here."

Professor McGonagall shot to her feet, fury written on every inch of her features. "PERSEUS JACKSON!" She thundered.

"Ooh, bringing out the full name, are we?" Thalia murmured. A few hunters tittered.

"WHY DID YOU NOT INFORM ME OF THIS IMMEDIATELY?"

Percy winced and glanced at Thalia, who's bow was still aimed for Fred's heart. "I was kinda hoping to avoid...this."

"Obviously that didn't work," Professor McGonagall commented dryly.

"Yeah," Percy sighed. "That's literally my life. Umm...Thalia? Do you mind lowering the bow? Usually people don't greet others by threatening to kill them."

"He hit on me," Thalia accused.

"Oof," Percy winced again. "Things aren't looking good for you Fred. Sorry mate." Thalia smirked as Fred backed away. "But wouldn't everyone agree that it would be better if she and the hunters...left?"

"And not exact revenge?" Phoebe, one of the hunters, asked indignantly. "Was it not that male who insulted our lieutenant? Doth you not think that we deserve vengeance?"

"Umm...Phoebe...he was only messing around," Percy pointed out cautiously as Fred nodded eagerly.

Thalia sniffed imperiously and lowered her bow. Fred breathed out a sigh of relief. Thalia cocked her head as if she was thinking and turned around, snapping her fingers. Fred glanced warily around before straightening up sharply. He lifted his hands and looked at them. They were sprouting fur...and claws. He went up to feel his head, and found a pair of ears and a pair of antlers. A look of shock crossed his face as he shrunk, ending up as a small cute jackelope sitting on the table.

Percy shrugged. "Better than killing him. Now, why don't I chivvy you and your hunters out of the Great Hall before you turn anymore people into jackelopes. And just for future reference, I'm still jealous that you can do that."

Thalia smirked. "Maybe you should get an immortal patron. Everyone's doing it these days."

"Oh, really? You want that? Well, go tell Lady Artemis that your step-mom wanted to be my patron. And she was terrible. She called me a loose cannon."

"I rather think she was stating a fact."

"Oh, haha. Real mature. For a woman almost in her thirties."

Harry looked over at Hermione. Thalia was barely sixteen. What on earth was their Professor talking about?

"Shut up Kelp Head," Thalia snapped. "Just show me the damn forest."

Percy cracked a smile. "I can show you the dam lake."

"How about the dam snack bar? Got one of those?" Thalia laughed, all previous animosity gone. They two of them walked back to the Great Hall's door, closely followed by the hunters, before stopping.

"Umm, Thalia... Just to be clear...Fred will turn back to Fred in the morning...right?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, whatever."

The doors banged shut, leaving an eery silence. George scooped up Fred and tickled behind his ear.

"Awwww, Freddie Weddie is a wittle bunny-wunny," he cooed, breaking the silence. Professor McGonagall all but melted, bringing her forehead down hard on the table.

"I swear I will gut that Poseidon-spawn, engaged to my sister or not," she muttered, before mouthing a few profanities that students definitely should not hear and decided that Fred had to go to lessons anyway, despite his new status as a bunny.

 _Well,_ she thought, _at least it's almost Christmas. We get a break and Percy can return to Camp. Peace and quiet at Hogwarts._

Well, she was right about the Christmas part.

 **Here it is. And, OMG HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD IS OUT! It was so good! Personally, I still prefer Percy Jackson, but that didn't stop it from being great! So many plot twists. And Snape! I really never expected to end up loving his character as much as I do now. I was sooooo excited when he showed up. But, no more spoilers and on to reviews!**

 **InkWizard: Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.**

 **Youdontseethis: Sometimes reading too quickly is a curse. Thanks!**

 **Throughthelookingglass27: Yeah, the pants/trousers thing can be confusing.**

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 **Guest Girl: You're welcome! Don't hesitate to suggest new ideas!**

 **Unknown girl 345: Thank you!**

 **Guest: I will**

 **Huffleclaw sparkspixie7904: I will continue the story, I have no intentions of giving up.**

 **Guest: Here is 11! Hope you like it!**

 **As always, reviews welcome, feedback appreciated and follows and favourites make me VERY happy. Remember, I don't know what you're thinking unless you review!**

 **Star, xoxo**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"I'm telling you Harry, Jackson is a Death Eater!"

"Ron, we don't know."

"Stop trying to defend him Harry!"

"He stayed with us over the half-term. He was great then! He taught Hermione to surf."

"Yeah, and Moody taught us for a year before we realised that it wasn't Moody, and actually some Death Eater in his body!"

"Yeah, but-"

"And another thing, he's from America."

"What's your point?"

"No one knows who he is."

"No one knew who the fake Moody was either."

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is?"

Hermione sighed deeply. The two boys had been going on like this for half an hour. She had mostly tried to ignore them and focus on her copy of Sherlock Holmes that her parents had sent her, but it was practically useless.

The three of them had wanted somewhere to hang out and be together, as the Gryffindor Common Room was too noisy, and the temperature had dropped so rapidly that they didn't want to go outside. In what Hermione described as a rare moment of brilliance, Ron had suggested using the Room of Requirement. So here they were.

This time, rather than the arena Professor Jackson had been practicing in, there was a room with a roaring fire, armchairs, a glass coffee table (do wizards drink coffee?) and windows with a view of the Forbidden Forest, Quidditch pitch and lake on three of the four walls. Hermione still couldn't get used to illogical things like that. The Room of Requirement faced away form the lake and forest, and so did the window, but the view was most definitely real. Hermione had opened the window and for sure, there was the lake. If she jumped out the window she knew she would be able to get there.

She sighed again and covered her ears, concentrating on her reading. _'We had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the night's doings, which Holmes had deduced from signs so subtle and minute that, even when he had pointed them out to us, we could scarcely follow him in his reasoning. The inspector hurried away-'_

"Harry, you're not listening!"

"Oh, I'm the one not listening, am I?"

"WOULD BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"

Harry and Ron fell silent as Hermione stood up and banged her book on the table. "I am reading one of the greatest works of muggle literature, and all you can do is squabble like children! Sit down and use logical reasoning to decide what to do!"

Harry and Ron both sat down with a humph, looking away from each other. "Now boys, Ron thinks the Professor is a Death Eater and Harry thinks we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Why?"

"Because he's so nice."

"Because he's suspicious." Both of them said at the same time.

Harry glared slightly. "I'm usually a very good judge of character. He doesn't seem to be anything like any Death Eaters we've ever come across."

Ron shook his head. "Are you mad Harry? He's from abroad. That should narrow any suspicion of him to a minimum, meaning no one will suspect him of working for You-Know-Who, which is what he wants us to think."

"You know Harry, he makes a good point," Hermione said gently. "Professor Jackson also has way too little knowledge of recent events. Even wizards from America should have heard at least something."

Harry sighed. "You're right Hermione. You always are."

"Hey! It was my idea!" Ron shouted indignantly. "I think I need to be praised for my mental prowess as well."

The three friends shared a good laugh. Harry stood up and stretched his legs, walking over to the window and looking out.

"But guys, if that's so, what can we do to stop him? He seems powerful."

Hermione shrugged. "It looks like we'll just have to do what we do best."

"Eating?" Ron asked hopefully. "Getting into trouble? Tipping glitter over the firsties?"

Hermione glared. "I knew that was you! You're a prefect, not a Fred and George! I have half a mind to report you-"

"You wouldn't do that to me? Would you?"

Hermione found herself, quite against her own will, blushing a slight red. "Uh..n- no..." she stuttered. Harry grinned.

"As much as I love to see you two finally almost getting together, there's something that I think you might wanna see." He pointed at something down on the school grounds.

Hermione and Ron walked up and looked over his shoulder. Hermione squinted. "Is that..."

"Jackson," Ron stated. "What's he doing out in weather like this?"

"He's carrying something," Harry said, "looks like a tub of something. Hang on, he's heading to the lake!"

"Why could he possible want to go to the lake?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

"I dunno..it's kinda difficult to see from here."

"I could do a spell to zoom in," Hermione suggested, waving her wand and muttering something under her breath. The window zoomed right in, showing every strand of hair on the professor's head. Ron backed up, tripping over backwards.

"Whoah, 'Mione, you'll give me vertigo," he complained.

"Sorry, sorry," she squeaked, zooming back out to a more manageable level, but still a bit too close for Harry's liking. He didn't comment though. The professor stopped at the edge of the Black Lake. He opened his mouth.

"Is there any sound?" Harry asked.

"Well you didn't specify," Hermione huffed, muttering another spell.

"-on!" The professor was saying. "I brought you your favourite! Fresh beef, the house elves were more than happy to supply!"

"I think he's gone mad," Ron whispered loudly. Harry had to agree. Professor Jackson was talking to the lake.

"Fine, I'll prove it." The professor threw a chunk of meat into the lake.

"And now he's throwing meat into the lake. Harry, are you certain you want to defend him?"

"You know what Ron, I'm suddenly not so sure."

Suddenly, the lake rippled and the giant squid broke the surface. Ron stumbled back again. "Holy-"

The squid lunged forward to Professor Jackson. For a second, Harry thought Jackson was about to be crushed as one huge tentacle wrapped around the professor, pinning his arms to his side.

"Professor!" Harry called out desperately, even though he knew fully well that he would not be heard. "Can't we do something?"

Then came the most surprising thing of all. Jackson laughed. It was crazy. There he was, being crushed by the giant squid, and he was laughing.

"Get off you big oaf," he said. "I can't get to the bucket with my arms pinned."

The giant squid made a noise, and if Harry wasn't mistaken it sounded sheepish, putting Jackson down gently on the shore. Jackson laughed again.

"It's quite alright, Martin. I just wish I could stay longer, but I've got a class soon. Yes, I would love to go on a tour of the lake with you. I'll look at my timetable- I'm not stupid! Of course I can understand it. Vaguely."

Ron leaned over to Harry. "Is he talking to the squid?" He whispered loudly. Harry just nodded slowly.

Hermione shook her head and frowned. "No, not to the squid, with the squid."

"What's the difference?"

"Whenever Professor Jackson speaks, it's always after the squid has made a noise. And- look! The squid just reacted to what he said...it's shaking. From anger?"

Harry leaned in subconsciously. "I think it's...laughing. Why is the giant squid laughing?"

"I'm pretty sure he's called Martin."

Hermione and Harry both looked at Ron with deadpan expressions.

"What?" Ron asked defensively, "Jackson called the squid Martin, I think that out of respect for the flesh-eating giant piece of calamari-" he shivered as the squid gulped down a piece of red meat "-we should address him by his proper name."

"Anyway," Hermione continued, looking out the window. "I think that at the very least Martin can understand what he is saying, and at the best Jackson may have invented an animal communication charm."

"I thought that wasn't possible," Harry said. "I thought that was too difficult, as animals use body language as well as speech to communicate, and that was too difficult to replicate."

"Maybe they're not actually communicating in the same language," Ron suggested, reaching into his pockets and bringing out a piece of gum which he threw and caught in his mouth. "I mean, if Jackson is speaking English...er, American but Martin can understand him and vice versa, but neither can speak the other's language, that would explain why we haven't a clue what Martin is saying and why Jackson hasn't started making a sound like a foghorn."

Harry looked at him, impressed. "I never doubted you," he told him, patting him on the shoulder. Ron puffed out his chest in pride.

"I'm not stupid either," he said, as Jackson threw in the last piece of meat, waved goodbye to Martin, who sank under the surface of the lake, and walked back up to the castle, whistling a happy tune.

"Thank God for Christmas miracles," Hermione murmured, watching as a single snowflake drifted down and landed on the windowpane.

"We've really got to do some Christmas shopping," Harry said thoughtfully to Hermione and Ron as they walked down the corridor to the Great Hall for lunch. "We have three weeks until Christmas Day. If we wait any longer there won't be anything to buy."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "I'm just getting sweets for everyone. Much quicker."

Hermione frowned disapprovingly. "Have you really not even started shopping? I have made seven lists and multiple spider-diagrams brainstorming what I will get everyone for Christmas. I only have two more things that I want to get."

"Organised as ever," Harry replied glumly. Hermione half-smiled.

"How about we go to Hogsmeade tomorrow? That's the perfect opportunity to get our shopping done."

Harry nodded, still rather glum, while Ron started bouncing up and down in his chair like an excited four year old. A tiny smile crept onto Hermione's face, and Ron looked at her with his head tilted in questioning.

"It's nothing," Hermione replied to the silent question, a slight blush on her face. "I'm just happy to have such good friends."

Ron blinked once. "I know."

A low growl came from Hermione's throat. "You are the most insufferable, irritating and ignorant person I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"

Harry laughed, clutching his sides as Ron was chased from the room by a very angry witch wielding a hard-back version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

 _You had it coming,_ was all Hermione could say to Ron's indignant cries.

Snow was falling on the little town of Hogsmeade. Charmed snow-shovels were piling snow by the road on their own, and witches and wizards were hurrying up and down the street wrapped in thick cloaks and scarves. Snow was falling from the sky, sprinkling the passersby with a thin layer of white powder.

"I am so going to catch a cold from this," sniffled Ron as he walked up to Harry, draped in coats and hats. Harry gave a little laugh.

"It's surprising, really," he said. "Usually it's Hermione telling us to wrap up warm or we'll get a cold."

They both glanced over to where Hermione was engaged in a snowball fight with some Hufflepuff fifth-years. She seemed to be winning.

Harry frowned slightly. "Jackson really seems to have brought out her wild side."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "I would not have thought she'd enjoy a snowball fight before."

"Really?" Asked two voices directly behind him. He gave a little screech and whipped around to see Fred and George looking intently at him.

"What do you want," he asked, pulling his coat up tighter.

"Well you see," George started. "It's like this."

"If you don't mind us saying," Fred added. "She's rather good looking."

Ron's eyes widened. "Is this going where I think it's going?"

"Very probably," George nodded gravely. "In fact-"

"She's suddenly gone from 'brother's-weird-friend'," Fred told him. "To 'pretty-cool-girl-who-helped-defeat-the-Dark-Lord'."

"In fact, since then she's even reached 'awesome' level."

"Do you have a classification of people?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, yeah, doesn't everybody?" Fred replied quickly. "At the moment you lie at 'boy-who-defeated-the-Dark-Lord-but-isn't-as-cool-as-everyone-thinks-he-is', but in debate to be risen to 'almost-epic'."

"Well thanks."

"Oh, at least it's better than Ron," George consoled. "He's still at 'weird-younger-brother' level and not looking like he'll rise any time soon."

"Oi!"

"But that is completely beside the point."

"Georgie is right. From 'awesome' level Hermione has reached 'epic-girl-who-knows-how-to-surfboard-plus-uses-literature-as-a-deadly-weapon' level. That almost outranks us."

"Don't flatter yourself."

Fred pouted. "You're so mean Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes while Ron looked outraged. "It's bad enough that I'm coming down with a cold but now my brothers come to me and ask me to help hit on my best friend!"

"It's not as bad as it sounds," George argued.

"It is as bad as it sounds."

"Yep."

Ron ground his teeth while Harry took a step back. He felt like things were about to get ugly. Ron took an ominous step forwards, before reeling back as a snowball hit him square in the face. Fred and George started to laugh, but the smiles were wiped off their faces as two snowballs hit them in quick succession.

"Oi! Fred, George, Ron!" Shouted Hermione from across the street. "Help me annihilate these Hufflepuffs!"

Fred and George gave identical grins. "With pleasure."

"You're not gonna miss out are you Ron?" Hermione asked with a sly grin on her face.

Ron snorted. "I'm going to stay right here where I won't get snow down my neck- YOU SMELLY GITS FRED AND GEORGE!"

The twins had snuck up behind him and - unsurprisingly - dumped a load of snow down his neck. They fell over laughing as Ron commenced on a complicated dance consisting of wriggles, hops and quite a bit of swearing to try and dislodge the snow.

"What is going on here?" Asked a sharp voice from behind them. Everyone turned sharply and hid the snowballs behind their back.

"Professor McGonagall," Hermione said. "I can explain."

"You need not explain Miss Granger," she said. "I believe I know _exactly_ -"

She was cut off as a snowball hit her in the face. Everyone started muttering wildly.

"Who threw that?"

"I didn't throw that."

"It hit Professor McGonagall on the nose."

"We're gonna get it now..."

Professor McGonagall reeled back slightly and angrily wiped the snow off her glasses. Everyone took a step back. A clear laugh rang out, and everyone turned to see Professor Jackson laughing his head off and pointing at her.

"Perseus," McGonagall said, scarily calm. "My name is Minerva McGonagall. You just threw a snowball at me. Prepare to die."

Professor Jackson's smirk was wiped off his face, and he turned to run, only to be nailed in the back of his head by Professor McGonagall. "Choose a side, students," she announced. "This is war."

Chaos erupted as everyone cheered and ran to their chosen side, McGonagall and Jackson as the ringleaders of each. Harry joined McGonagall's side fairly quickly, followed hastily by Ron, while Hermione suffered a moment of brief indecision before joining Jackson. The twins quickly joined Hermione, as did Neville, who had just arrived along with Luna and Draco while the two latter joined McGonagall.

To almost everybody's utter astonishment Professor McGonagall proved to be utterly ruthless, and soon took out the twins with what seemed like a degree of satisfaction.

"Always knew Minnie had it in her," muttered Fred weakly as he lay on the ground on top of his brother. "This is just revenge for all our pranks."

"And the worst part isn't that my brother is lying on top of me, but we just got knocked out by a professor," George pointed out quite unnecessarily, clutching his head as the world spun around him.

"That makes us lamer than Ron," Fred finished with a horrified expression on his face. They groaned in unison and passed out.

Hermione smirked slightly, shouted a battle cry and engaged in furious combat with Professor McGonagall. Jackson was laughing his head off again, and dodging any snowballs that came his way. They even seemed to bend around him, forming a sort of hurricane, which ended when Neville came up behind him and bonked him on the head with a giant snowball.

"Traitor!" Gasped the Professor. "Neville has defected to Minerva's side! Concentrate fire on him!"

Neville looked shocked at his Professor, and while he wasn't paying attention was knocked to the ground by Draco, who proceeded to try and convince Harry and Ron to join in by throwing snowballs in their faces. It didn't work and the two grumpily retreated to the Three Broomsticks to defrost and buy some hot chocolate.

"Wow," Harry said as they sat down at a table by the fireplace. "Who knew Hermione and McGonagall could be so violent."

"Personally I feel sorry for Jackson," Ron sniffled, holding his hands over the fire. "McGonagall looked like she'll slaughter him."

"Although on the other hand Fred and George got knocked out," Harry pointed out. "That's go to cheer you up at least."

Ron brightened considerably. "I suppose it does."

Harry bit his lip. "Ron, mate."

"Yeah, what is it Harry?"

Harry licked his lips. "What do you think Jackson is?"

Ron frowned. "Whad'ya talking about?"

"Don't you feel like he's...unnatural."

"Uh, nothing springs to mind." Ron paused. "I mean he's weird, but come on so are most people nowadays."

"Don't you feel like he's powerful?"

"He's never actually performed a powerful spell, so to be honest I don't know."

Harry clicked his tongue frustratedly. "But don't you feel it when you're around him?

"...I don't think so."

Harry leaned back in his chair as he thought. "It's like hurricanes and pools of water so clear you can see your reflection."

Ron looked at him quizzically. "Where's this coming from mate?"

Harry sighed. "I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. I feel like I've been asleep and learned so many things, only to wake up and forget them."

Ron opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by a loud battle cry. They jumped up and ran outside, only to see the Hunters of Artemis charging at Jackson's team, allied with McGonagall, while Jackson's team tried to flee in any direction they could. Thalia and McGonagall caught Jackson with little to no effort and had him pinned down.

"I didn't really stand a chance, did I?" Jackson said, to Ron and Harry's surprise with a smile on his face. "Knew you would retaliate Minerva."

McGonagall seemed to be fighting a smile and losing. Schooling her expression, she replied: "I will not forget this Percy. Prepare to face the owls of Hogwarts."

Jackson's face became a mask of pure terror. "It was only a joke!" He screamed as the two women carried him off.

Ron and Harry watched, confused as Hermione came over, almost completely unscathed, and calmly suggested they go to the sweet shop first. They two boys nodded soundlessly and followed her, not daring to speak.

Night fell over the Forbidden Forest and there huddled a collection of deformed entities. Giants towered above them and empousai step-thumped their way around on their one metal leg and one donkeys leg.

"It's decided," hissed one dracaena. "We have found the dwelling of the sea spawn and we will commence the attack."

The rest of the monsters raised their red eyes. "All hail Queen Sess!"

 **So here's the next chapter. Unfortunately I have no excuse other than the fact I am a huge procrastinator. Because of this, I would like to ask all the readers to leave a review, as anonymously and truthfully as you like, with a score of one to ten. 10 being Rick Riordan standard and 1 being basically a bunch of words strung together to create a vaguely coherent sentence. Hopefully this will make me more active!**

 **Thanks for putting up with me!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

 **Thanks so much everyone! It's been amazing and really inspired me to write more! Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing!**

"Found anything yet?"

"No."

There was a pause.

"How about now?"

"Still no."

"Really?"

"Believe it or not."

"But you're taking forever!"

Hermione slammed the book down on the table. "Well of wizards had invented search engines perhaps I would be getting there faster," she huffed to Ron.

Madame Pince poked her head around a bookshelf and glared at them. Hermione quickly stuck her head back in the book while Ron smiled at her awkwardly and gave a little wave. Madame Pince narrowed her eyes and glided back around the corner.

"And you could be a little helpful by actually going through the books with me," Hermione whispered angrily. "At least Harry's helping me."

Harry popped his head up from behind a huge tome. "Mate, just do what she says," he told Ron. "Hermione knows best."

Hermione smirked. "Yes she does. And-" she opened the book "-she's just found something important."

Harry and Ron got up and looked over her shoulder. On the page was a picture of fourteen huge people sitting on thrones, each of their eyes glowing with power.

"Cor, they look nasty," Ron commented. "Who are they?"

"It's just a myth," Hermione told them. "But these people are the Olympians."

"Like the sporting event?" Harry asked.

"No, but the Olympics were named after them," she said, before frowning. "It's strange though, I thought there were only twelve Olympians."

Ron rolled his eyes, exasperated. "But who are they 'Mione?"

"Gods, allegedly," Hermione replied. "I have read this exact book before, in second year while I was looking for the book about the basilisk, but back then there were definitely only twelve olympians..."

"Do you think someone's tampered with it?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so. There would be at least a few signs that someone has changed it, but there are no tears, traces of magic and it looks like it hasn't been touched since I last read it. It's as if it has always been like this. I don't think-"

"Hermione," Ron interrupted. "Who are they?"

"Sorry," Hermione said. "In Ancient Greece and Rome the citizens used gods to explain things like storms or lightning, and the twelve major gods had a throne on Olympus, which is the tallest mountain in Greece."

"Just like the pictures on Jackson's vault," Harry realised. "I definitely saw some of these people there. The one with the beard and the fork-"

"Poseidon or Neptune with a trident," Hermione interjected.

"Yeah, that guy," Harry continued. "He was carved in above a picture of a twelve-year-old boy with a sword."

Ron started flicking through Hermione's book. "Why did you say Poseidon _or_ Neptune? Aren't those two different people?"

"Sort of."

"How can you be sort of two different people?"

"Well, when the Romans took over Ancient Greece," Hermione explained. "They also adopted their gods, only changing their names and slightly altering their personalities and domains. Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea, while Neptune is the Roman, but  
in effect they are the same."

Ron nodded. "Oh, I see. So which one is it?"

"Well," Hermione replies briskly. "Professor Jackson has a Roman tattoo on his arm so I assume it's Neptune."

Ron and Harry turned to look at her with dumbfounded, confused and exasperated expressions. "What," asked Harry at length. "Are you talking about."

"I thought you knew?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other. "Knew that the tattoo on his arm we told you about at the beginning of term that we suspected to be the Dark Mark was actually just a wacky fashion statement?"

Hermione threw up her hands in defeat. "I thought you realised and didn't want to look stupid for jumping to conclusions so you never brought it up again."

"Thank you for your unwavering trust," Harry said shortly.

"You don't have to be sarcastic," Hermione mumbled into the pages of her book.

"Okay. What was the tattoo then? Do you think it was a glamour?"

Hermione shook her head. "Oh no, I cast a charm to disperse glamours and illusions, just to see if Tyson was in fact a real cyclops, and it would have changed his tattoo as well, but when we went surfing later on it was still the same."

"So that's why my sandcastle lost it's glamour," Ron exclaimed. "I thought my spell just wasn't strong enough."

"You don't have to cheat in a sandcastle building competition," Hermione told him.

"And besides," Harry pointed out. "Even your sandcastle illusion wasn't half as good as Tyson's. It was like comparing a sandcastle to an actual castle."

"But it wasn't a castle building competition," Ron complained. "It was a sandcastle building competition. And I think mine was much more like a sandcastle than his."

"When you've finished pouting, do you want me to tell you what his tattoo actually was?" Hermione asked impatiently. Ron nodded sheepishly. "It was SPQR with a trident underneath it."

"Didn't you say that was what the fork Poseidon or Neptune was carrying was called?," Harry asked. "And SPQR, does it stand for something?"

Hermione turned a page and pointed at a picture of a huge army wearing what looked like extremely heavy armour and carrying purple or red banners on which was written SPQR. At the forefront of the legion stood a man carrying a gold pole with an eagle  
on top. The caption read; _Twelfth Legion Fulminata, all ten cohorts assembled_.

Ron blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"As far as I can tell," Hermione said. "The legion is the army, broken into smaller divisions called cohorts which each contained around 500 men and were led by two centurions. A legion had around 5000 soldiers in at any one time."

Harry whistled. "Wow, the Death Eaters look practically tame after seeing that."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Call your followers an army, You-Know-Who? Now that's an army."

Harry looked at him. "Why aren't you calling him by his name?"

"After seeing a boy control ghosts I don't really want to take my chances."

"Fair enough. So is SPQR and Fulminata the symbol or title of the army or something?" Harry questioned.

"Not quite. It stands for 'Senatus Populus que Romanus', meaning 'The Senate and People of Rome', while Fulminata means 'armed with lightning'."

"But he told me he was Greek," Ron said. "Why would he get a Roman tattoo?"

Harry shrugged. "Perhaps he just liked Rome better."

"Or perhaps there is a demon Latin teacher in America who goes around branding his or her students," Ron suggested. The other two didn't reply.

"According to this," Harry said as he read the explanation on the opposite page of the book. "Each of the twelve legions got special powers from their patron god. The Twelfth Legion got its power from Jupiter, the king of the gods."

"Superstitious nonsense," Hermione replied firmly.

"That doesn't make sense," Ron said, frowning. "Why twelve?"

"Twelve gods," Hermione said, shrugging. "Major ones at least."

Ron flicked back to the page with the picture of the gods. "But here it says there are fourteen major gods. Wouldn't the Romans have been scared that the two gods they left out would blast them for missing them out?"

Hermione shrugged. "Historical inaccuracies. It's not uncommon. I think we've hit a dead end. We might have to look somewhere else."

Harry patted her on the shoulder to get her attention. "No, Hermione," he said. "I think he's on to something. Look, these are the major gods, right? The ones that have thrones on Olympus. It says there are fourteen. But here, look-" he turned the page  
"-it says that the Romans believed there were only twelve Olympian gods. And even stranger, it's talking in present tense about the fourteen gods and past tense about the twelve gods. 'In Roman times there were twelve Olympian gods, and hundreds of  
minor gods'," Harry read. "But here it says: 'There are fourteen Olympian gods now, since Vesta (Hestia) and Pluto (Hades) were recently given thrones'."

"Cult members perhaps?" Hermione suggested.

"Perhaps," Harry acknowledged. "But if the people who wrote this book are cult members, then Jackson has to be one too. He burned his food, remember? Maybe it was to appease his gods."

"I think we need to find out all we can about Neptune," Ron said. "And remember, we still don't know what Jackson was doing with Luna, Neville and Malfoy."

"I almost forgot about that," Hermione said. "Malfoy said he was a full member now, didn't he? And they mentioned Nemesis and Ceres and- who was the last one? There was one more, wasn't there?"

Harry shrugged. "It was a long time ago. We made a mistake by not looking it up then and there. It just seemed so irrelevant at the time. And we trust Neville and Luna not to do something stupid. They're two of the bravest and smartest people we know."

"Anyway," Hermione continued. "Nemesis was the goddess of revenge-"

"Sounds like Malfoy to me," Ron muttered.

"-but she was also the goddess of balance. There has to be as much good as bad."

"That definitely doesn't sound like Malfoy, that evil git."

"But Ceres was the goddess of agriculture and grain crops."

"Sounds like Neville," Ron said. "But it sounds so ridiculous. Gods don't exist. Clever people like them can't believe in gods."

"I don't know," Hermione sighed. "I really don't know. We'll just have to wait and see."

The book shut with an ominous bang and a puff of dust. It was replaced on the shelf where it was found, and lay there for weeks, forgotten by the three students in the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Harry, Ron and Hermione all decided to stay at Hogwarts  
for the holidays, Harry and Hermione to keep an eye on Jackson, who was also staying, while Ron was mostly staying for the food.

* * *

 _Midnight_ , _24 December in the Forbidden Forest..._

"Thalia, there are too many, and they caught us unprepared. We need to retreat."

"Retreat where, Phoebe?" Thalia asked, shooting an arrow from her bow. "They have us completely pinned down."

"The left flank!" Phoebe shouted to the lieutenant. "If we can get through them we have a clear path to the castle to warn Minerva."

"Since when do you call her Minerva? Do you know her?"

"This is really not the time!"

"Okay, Hunters!" Thalia called. "Concentrate fire on the left flank, retreat to the castle! We need to warn Percy-"

She gasped in pain. She had turned her back. From the throng of monsters had jumped a manticore, and now blood seeped through her silver clothes as the poisonous tip of the manticore's tail was buried deep in her shoulder.

"Thalia!" Phoebe screamed as their leader fell to the ground. Lightning flashed all around and rain started to fall heavily. One bolt of lightning hit the manticore and burned it to a crisp. The monsters retreated, hissing and grumbling.

"Everyone," Phoebe ordered. "Protect Thalia. Clara, you're a daughter of Apollo, do what you can until we get back. Emily and Dove get a stretcher and move her carefully onto it. Metella, call the wolves back to protect us as we run."

The Hunters nodded grimly and set off in the direction of the castle, lights twinkling in the windows and snow dusting the ground.

 **Thank you so much everyone! The feedback has been absolutely amazing, I want to thank each and every one of you who has read, favourited, followed or reviewed this story. It wouldn't be here without you!**

 **Interesting fact: the name Clara comes from the Latin word** ** _clarus_** **which means bright or famous. There was a Titan called Clymene as well, who was the Titan of fame and renown.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _20 December, Hogwarts Castle_

"Finally, it's almost Christmas," Ron sighed. The three friends were sitting outside in the snow under a huge oak tree as the sky darkened, warmed by a fire in a jar that Hermione had conjured.

"And no more school is a bonus too," Harry added, holding his cold hands towards the fire in a jar. "But don't let Hermione hear you say that!"

"Personally," Hermione sniffed. "I think that a good break from school is just about welcome by now."

"Hermione saying that it's good school's over?" Ron shook his head. "The world just gets crazier and crazier each day."

"And that's before you add in a teacher who worships Roman gods," Harry laughed.

"He is a mortal who discovered the gods, and now he worships them to keep their anger at bay!" Ron joined in, in a mock scary voice. The two boys fell back laughing, while Hermione even cracked a small smile. It was nice to get the weight off their shoulders  
for a while, and just share a laugh between them.

Ron continued with his soliloquy to his audience, jumping up and slinking back and forth like a cat ready to pounce. "The man burns his food to appease his gods, for if left unappeased, the unmerciful godsshall smite him where he stands, leaving  
nothing but ashes in his place!" He reared up and waggled his fingers at them, pretending to be scary.

They all three fell back laughing, clutching their bellies, when a distant thunderclap caught their attention. They looked up. Clouds were gathering on the horizon, coming in their direction, while far-off lightning lit the clouds up.

"Is that a storm?" Harry asked with a frown. "Right now?"

"That sure came quickly," Hermione said. "Shame. It'll wash away the snow."

The clouds were lit up as lightning flashed, followed by a peal of thunder.

"You can tell how far away a storm is by counting how many seconds are in-between the lightning and the thunder," Ron told them unexpectedly.

"Yeah, I've heard of that," Harry agreed. "What is it, seven seconds per mile?"

"Five," Ron replied. "I loved lightning storms when I was younger. I used to watch them for ages. I used to think someone was mixing a giant cooking pot and making the skies swirl."

Lightning flashed. "One, two," they counted under their breaths in unison. "Three, four, five, six, seven, eight-" They were startled out of their revery as thunder boomed.

"Just under two miles away," Harry concluded. "We better get inside soon, it looks like it's moving fast."

They stood up. "Come on 'Mione," Ron urged, turning to look. She was completely still and looking up. "'Mione? 'Mione! What is it!" Ron started grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Hermione raised a finger and pointed upwards. Ron and Harry followed where  
she was pointing, and their mouths dropped open.

There was a boat in the sky. A _boat_ in the _sky_. A boat was moving, _in the sky._

Ron made a slight whimper. "Oh-" And promptly fainted.

"What on earth is a boat doing in the sky?" Harry asked, shocked beyond compare.

"I haven't a clue," Hermione said, grabbing Ron by the feet. "But it's breached the wards and is coming towards us. It looks like it's going to land on the lake! Get the jar!"

With surprising ease, she flipped Ron over, pointed his wand at him and whispered ' _rennervate'_. Ron came to, rubbing his head.

"Hey guys," he greeted cheerily. "I must've hit my head hard, because I dreamt that there was a boat, that was flying. In the sky. How ridiculous is that!"

Hermione and Harry shared a glance. "Er, Ron? Look up."

"By Merlin's hairy buttocks!" Ron cursed. "There is a flying ship landing on the lake."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "Come on."

The ship had attracted much attention by now, and students were pouring out of Hogwarts to get a closer look. Harry saw Jackson charging across the grass to the lake edge. The ship started to descend, and as it came closer Harry could spot people walking  
around on deck.

The ship was made of a weird bronze, with a dragon as the masthead. Shields and crossbows were lined up on deck, while two huge masts towered overhead. The ship touched down on the surface of the lake, causing waves of water to splash over the shore.

The Professor was standing on the very edge of the lake, at the front of the crowd. The wave had hit him directly, but he was the only one dry. Harry, Hermione and Ron elbowed their way through the crowd until they reached him.

"What's going on? Is it the students from Durmstrang?" Harry asked, standing next to him.

"Nope!" Replied the Professor cheerfully. "My best friends in the entire world!"

"And your best friends travel around in a big boat?"

Percy nodded. "It's called the Argo III."

"Isn't that the boat from Roman mythology?" Hermione asked.

"Greek, actually," he replied. "Here they are!"

The gangplank was lowered, and out came a group of people, led by a blonde girl who was carrying a laptop under her arm. She smiled when she caught sight of Percy, shoved her laptop to a buff Chinese boy behind her and charged down the plank.

"Percy!" she screamed.

"Annabeth!" He screamed back

They charged towards each other and fell into each other's arms, kissing passionately. There was a unified groan from the students, as almost all of them turned their heads away in disgust.

"We did not need to see that mate," Ron complained as the two pulled away.

Percy grinned. "All of you better scram unless you want to see more."

Most of the students dispersed, huffing and grumbling, but secretly curious, as Luna pushed her way through. Harry watched as the rest of the people on the ship disembarked.

"Annabeth!" Luna exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her.

"Luna!" Annabeth responded. "Is Minerva inside? And Severus?"

"Yup," Luna replied happily. "I'll go get them to prepare for you!" And ran off.

"Okay, what is going on?" Ron asked in Harry's ear. "Have we fallen into another dimension? Are his friends from Durmstrang? Please tell me his friends are not from Durmstrang..."

"They're all older than school level," Hermione told him. "It is not Durmstrang. What do you have against them anyway?"

"Y'know they say never meet your heroes," Ron muttered darkly.

"Viktor was really nice," Hermione said, affronted. "Stop trying to tell me how evil he is."

Harry gave them an elbow each and they turned to Professor Jackson.

"Guys," Percy said to Harry, Hermione and Ron. "Meet my friends."

A ragtag group had formed on the grass by the lake. Annabeth was in the lead, followed by the buff, Chinese boy who was holding her laptop as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Next to him was a golden-eyed girl who was tapping a wand against  
her leg. She looked like the only magical person there, and Harry's gaze immediately gravitated towards her as the most normal.

Next to her was a short, curly haired imp wearing a tool belt and fiddling with various bits of metal and pipe cleaners, building tiny machines, dismantling them, and building them again. A beautiful girl who looked like she was a Veela was scolding him  
\- something about ping pong and cheese whiz? - with one of her hands protectively on her swollen belly and the otherpossessively on a blonde boy's shoulders. This boy was wearing thin spectacles that looked a bit like Harry's and looking warily  
at the brewing storm.

"What did you do, Percy?" he asked.

"Why do you immediately suspect me?" Percy protested. "I thought we were bros? Besides, I'm not the only one who can annoy your dad."

"Well..."

"Oh come on! I've been struck by lightning enough already, it wasn't me!"

"Sure, we believe you," the imp told him unconvincingly, releasing a miniature eagle that flew one lap around Percy's head before returning to his hand where he disassembled it and used the parts to start making a helicopter.

"What about Leo? It could've been Leo," Percy insisted.

"Nope," the blonde boy with glasses disagreed. "He's been mellowed out since we had to leave Calypso back at Camp. She, Rachel and Grover are doing this project together to raise awareness about the threatened environment, and she couldn't miss it."

Harry might have been imagining, but Percy looked faintly relieved. "That's a shame," he nonetheless said. "But that doesn't mean I upset your your dad!"

"Why else would there be a storm right next to your school?" The Veela asked.

"It wasn't me!"

"Alright," the golden-eyed girl interrupted. "That's enough now. Percy, why don't you introduce us to your friends."

"Oh, right. Guys-" he gestured to his six friends and then to each of the trio, "-this is Ron, Hermione and Harry."

The girl's gaze locked onto them. "Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter?"

"Those are the ones," Percy agreed, not noticing as the three of them shifted uncomfortably and glanced at each other. "Okay, this is Hazel-" he pointed to the golden-eyed girl, "- and that's her boyfriend, Frank." The boy holding Annabeth's laptop. "Piper's  
the really pretty one, she's six months pregnant and we're going to be the godfathers and mothers!Her fiancéeis blonde Superman-"

"Jason," the boy in question told him.

"Correct!" Percy exclaimed. "The Latino imp is Leo - FYI, don't eat anything he gives you-"

"That was one time!"

"Sure it was," Percy replied, unconvinced. "And you already know Annabeth. Hey, where's Nico? I thought he'd come."

"Nico and Will are having a little quality time in Nico's cabin," Leo insinuated, gently elbowing Percy.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Will is checking up on him. We were attacked by a shadow monster, it sapped a lot of his strength defeating it."

"Speak of the devil," Leo crowed as the two boys came up on deck. "And what have you two been doing I wonder?"

Nico was holding Will's hand and limping. He glared at Leo, and man his glare was terrifying. "Shut up now Valdez."

Leo made a show of zipping his mouth closed. "Shutting up."

"Hi, nice to meet you all," Hermione greeted.

Hazel stepped forwards and smiled widely, shaking her hand. "It's an honour to meet you as well."

"Yeah," Leo said. "But as you can see Hazel and Nico are the only ones with the slightest idea of where we are and what this is. It was frankly painful - and I don't mean that in any offence, Frank - flying here with Hazel telling me: 'go right at the  
end of the blue Mist- no you've missed it!' and Nico repeating: 'it's the castle where Death is strongest.' How am I supposed to plot in coordinates with directions like those?"

"Well, you looked like you had fun," Percy told them. "Hey, Ron, Harry, Hermione. I was just wondering if you could show my friends to the Great Hall, me and Annabeth need to... ummm... go get Thalia! Yeah, go get Thalia..."

Leo rolled his eyes. "What Percy means to say is that he and his fiancée need some time alone so they can make out. And if there's enough time..."

Piper hit him over the head with a shield from the rack as Annabeth and Percy both blushed. "Shut up Leo!"

"What?" Leo protested. "We were all thinking it."

"Thalia's here?" Jason asked eagerly. "Can I-"

"Guys!" Hazel stepped forwards. "We can all see Percy and Annabeth are frustrated-"

"In more ways than one," Leo snickered, before cowering away below Piper's irritated gaze. "Okay, Beauty Queen, don't get your daggers in a knot-" she raised her shield threateningly, "okay, I'll shut up now."

"Just let Annabeth and Percy go," Frank said, before awkwardly raising her laptop. "Do you want your laptop back?"

"Nah, hang onto it," Annabeth said, whispering something into Percy's ear. His face lit up and he pulled her in for another kiss. Water swirled around them for a second, seemingly pulled from the air, and when it receded, they were gone.

"Where did they go?" Harry asked. "You can't apparate in Hogwarts, the wards stop anything but authorised floo and portkeying..."

"Weird mumbo-jumbo, that's what I'm here for!" Leo crowed excitably.

Nico and Hazel rolled their eyes. "Hogwarts is the name of the school," Hazel told him.

"Pig-Pimples! No way!"

"I thought I told you to shut up," Nico growled, putting his hand to his head at the thought of the impending headache.

"Yeah, but only you Underworld Twins have any clue what's what, so we're relying on you here to translate."

"Just follow us," Harry told them. "It's about dinner time anyway."

The group started the trek up to the school. Hazel jogged up to the front and fell into step with Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"So, you're the famous Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," she said.

"That's us," Hermione confirmed, glaring at the delighted look on Ron's face.

"Wait, they're famous?" Jason, who was walking just behind them, asked.

"In this world, yeah," Nico said, leaning into Will and holding his hand. "Harry vanquished the Dark Lord Voldemort when he was baby, and then again when Voldemort returned."

Frank frowned. "That's French, right?"

"Flight from death," Piper effortlessly translated.

"I didn't know you spoke French," Nico said.

"It's the language of love," Piper clarified. "I get it from my mom."

Frank shrugged. "I learned it at school."

"Can you, Piper and Hazel speak French together then?" Nico asked.

"We tried, but Canadian, Louisiana and original French are so different we couldn't understand each other," Frank replied. "Can someone else take Annabeth's laptop? Please?"

"No way, man," Leo refused, holding his hands up. "If even the big, bad Praetor is terrified then I know we're not gonna face Annabeth's rage when it is harmed in any way."

"When? Not if?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Give it here."

Leo stared at him as if he'd grown two heads. "You would willingly put your life at risk for Frank? Better watch out Nico, you've got competition."

Nico growled and reached for his sword, stepping threateningly forward even as Leo squeaked and hid behind Frank. Hazel sighed and raised her wand, pointing it at Leo as Frank, relieved, handed the laptop to Will.

"Silencio!" She intoned with a flourish of her wand. "If this is mellowed out," she said to Jason. "Then I think you have been around him too long."

Leo opened his mouth to make a comment on the cliché-ness of the wand, only for no sound to come out. "You had it coming," Hazel responded to his silent glare.

Leo opened and closed his mouth in an agitated and angry fashion. Jason face-palmed.

"You can understand what he's saying?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Jason replied. "He's saying, ' _I'm hurt that you choose your protective brother over the person who constantly annoys everyone, including your brother, and has angered every single...important person who's ever met me, including my own girlfriend_ '.  
Wow, the Stolls were right, lip-reading does come in handy."

"Let me guess," Piper said. "You were forced to learn it because they kept silently planning pranks on you in front of you."

"Yep."

"Oh look, we're here!" Hermione nervously exclaimed, pushing the enormous doors open.

The group gasped as they saw the enormous hall. Leo leapt forward, mouthing something in awe. If he wasn't on mute, it would've probably been along the lines of: ' _Dude! I wonder if I can program a mini dragon to fly around eating the floating candles? Like an air Pac-Man... I need to get Jason in on this...'_

"Heroes!" McGonagall greeted from the teacher's table as Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried over to the Gryffindor table, partly to get away from the madness and partly to discuss what they thought about their professor's friends.

"Minerva," Piper greeted. "Lovely to see you again. Umm, Lockhart's not going to be wandering around, right? Because if he is I'm going to go and hang myself."

There was a ripple of laughter from the students and some reserved smiles from the teachers. "You really are nothing alike, eh," Will laughed, remembering the siblings' first disastrous meeting.

"Thank the gods," Piper muttered.

McGonagall waved her wand and a fifth table appeared to the side of the teacher's table, the rest of the room bending outwards to make space and obey the headmistress's command. Leo strutted over to it and tapped a series of knocks against the table top  
before listening as if for a response. When none came he just sat down and waved the others over to join him.

"These people are muggles," Hermione told Harry and Ron. "Or at least he definitely is."

"Why d'ya say that?" Harry asked.

"He just said 'am I dreaming, r u related 2 Buford?' In Morse Code," Hermione replied, shaking her head. "Then he said, 'lasers 4 yes, nothing 4 no'."

"You know Morse Code?" Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I thought it would be interesting. It's quite simple actually, you just have to memorise all the combinations for different letters."

"Doesn't sound simple," Ron disagreed. "Guys, remember when Jason explained what Leo was saying?"

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Leo didn't say 'every important person I've ever met', he said 'every god and goddess I've ever met."

"One of you can lip-read, one of you knows Morse Code, I'm feeling a bit out-of-the-loop here guys," Harry joked.

Ron shrugged. "I had to, otherwise Fred and George would plan pranks on me in front of me. Nothing more frustrating."

"You need to learn sign-language, Harry, then we're even," Hermione responded. "Well, now we know that they're all part of the cult."

"We only really know Jason and Leo," Harry argued.

Hermione stared at him with a sort of _are-you-kidding-me-I-can't-believe-you-didn't-notice_ kind of look that made Harry shift uncomfortably. "Jason was wearing a shirt with SPQR on it and Frank was wearing the same shirt under his jacket, I can  
tell because the neckline was the same cut and had the same stitching. And Hazel had the same tattoo as Percy, just with a different symbol."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "Did you by any chance finish the Sherlock Holmes books?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded, puzzled.

"Mystery solved," Ron announced. "I can now deduce that Hermione will go on to create a muggle moving picture based on it."

"There've already been many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes," Hermione informed them. "The most recent was a TV show by the BBC-"

"How do you know this?" Ron questioned in bewilderment and awe.

Hermione hesitated. "...Not important! The important fact is that Percy's friends are from the same cult...religion as he is."

"Blimey, I bet she has another crush on one of the characters," Ron whispered loudly to Harry.

Hermione looked scandalised. "Ronald!"

Ron continued, unabashed. "What was the other one's name? Davy Tennor or something like that. His hair is amazing, even if he creates paradoxes that can only be solved by Hermione. Believe me, she showed me the equations."

"I never said his hair was amazing!"

Ron snorted. "I watched three seasons with you without having the slightest clue what was going on. I think I can draw my own conclusions about his hair."

"Ron has a crush!" Hermione sing-songed in a distinctly un-Hermione-ish way, before stage-whispering to Harry: "I've only heard stories about what happens to people like him once they are drawn into the fandom..."

Ron looked over at Harry with a ridiculously panicked look on his face. "What? What happens? Hermione tell me...tell me now!"

Hermione cackled evilly in a disturbingly Bellatrixian manner, before completely ignoring Ron's attempts to get her to reveal her secrets in favour of squinting at Fred and George to try and deduce whether or not they were going to pull a prank, and if  
so, on who.

Harry turned away from the more and more desperate Ron to gaze at the table where the new arrivals were laughing and joking - silently in Leo's case - and cuddling up to their girlfriends and boyfriends. He cracked a smile and a wince as he witnessed  
Leo's attempt to cuddle up to Hazel, resulting in him being bashed over the head with four separate plates by Hazel, Frank, Nico and surprisingly Piper.

Leo then went on to somehow weld two of the plates together at one of the edges and open and close it like a mouth. He added weird wings, helicopter blades and complicated circuit boards that seemed to serve no purpose, then handed it to Jason who threw  
it into the air - too gently, too high to not be aided by magic - then grinned maniacally as he directed it by remote-control to eat the floating candles.

Hazel smacked the back of his head, he let go of the remote and the plate-candle-eating-flying-robot crash-landed on the Ravenclaw table, where it was descended on by at least twenty students who ripped it apart to see how it worked.

As you do.

Harry shrugged, finished off the last of his meal and followed the terrified Ron up to the dorms, in front of whom was Hermione (Ron having insisted that she stay where he could see him - heaven knows what his reaction would be when they had to split  
up to go to different dorms), who had figured out that the twins were going to prank the Third Years in History of Magic with fireworks that exploded with chocolate sprinkles.

 _Perhaps_ , Harry pondered as he let his head fall to the pillow. _Perhaps madness is catching. Next thing you know I'll wake up with cotton candy hair_.

He was wrong, of course. But he really wasn't that far wrong.

* * *

 _Next morning:_

"FRED AND GEORGE YOU BLOODY GITS I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!"

Harry blearily blinked his eyes open to the startling sight of Ron with a bubblegum pink Afro with a light dusting of chocolate sprinkles running down the stairs to find his guilty brothers and change it back before anyone saw. Bit late on that front,  
Harry feared as his fellow dorm-mates awoke with equally startled expressions.

Harry changed quickly and joined the steadily growing crowd in the common room. He watched as Hermione mournfully placed her massive Sherlock Holmes book on the shelf of books that had been there for years but nobody touched, next to _The Origin of Species_ and _Gilderoy Lockhart's Life, Adventures and Tragic Descent into Madness: The Complete Guide to One of the Modern World's Greatest Wizards_.

On the bright side, at least she had figured out why the twins had pink stains all over their clothes yesterday.

 **And the other demigods are finally here! Whoo!**

 **As a side note: Davy Tennor is Ron-speak for the amazing David Tennant.**

 **As a second side note: I know that they really shouldn't know anything about these shows as they were first aired years after the Deathly Hallows concluded, but I couldn't help myself. And I am the author with unspeakable and unshakable power over my characters. You know, I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that fangirling can be detrimental to health. And let's not even get onto the health of the characters...**

 **Leave a review, whether you liked it or not. Just a simple 'Pretty good' or 'I liked it' will make my day, and you're all such lovely people that you can easily bring a smile to my face by following or favouriting or even just reading. I love all you readers! This wouldn't be here without you!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Unsurprisingly, barely anyone stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas. Harry presumed it was because everyone was scared that Hogwarts would be broken into again. Of course, Hogwarts was supposed to be the safest place in the country, but what with the track record, leaving meant you were statistically less likely to be attacked.

Hermione and Ron only stayed because otherwise Harry would be alone, and the Weasley household was already overflowing with guests.

Although Hogwarts castle was hardly any better. Ever since those friends of the professor arrived the castle seemed to have doubled in occupants, despite all the people who went home for Christmas. Harry would meet Leo in the corridors poking a painting, and then thirty second later spot him dangling from a chandelier and screaming.

He couldn't think of a reason how.

But regardless, they had loads of fun.

A snowball fight that Leo started reached almost as epic proportions as the one between Jackson and Professor McGonagall. Especially since the snow turned to water as soon as it hit him. Probably some sort of heating charm. Which worked until Leo was nailed in the head by Nico.

No one really knew what the heck was going on.

 _But anyway,_ Harry thought as he sat in front of the fire in the common room. _I knew Jackson was weird as soon as I saw him. Why would he associate with anyone different?_

—

 _Percy_ _:_

Percy really couldn't be more glad his friends had arrived.

This term had seemed to go agonisingly slowly, and he couldn't believe that he had the rest of the year to teach, especially deprived of Annabeth as he was. He also felt bad for Harry, whom he knew was suspicious of all these goings-on.

He sat in the Great Hall with the rest of his friends, picked at his lunch and listened to the conversation going on around him.

Hazel was saying: "So there's _wingardium_ _leviosa-"_

"That's the flying spell, right?" Jason said, frowning in studious concentration. "And _alohomora_ opens locks?"

"Right," Hazel said. "But _wingardium leviosa_ is less a flying spell than a hovering charm-"

"And there's some sort of difference between them, yeah, yeah, we get it," Leo said frivolously, inspecting a suit of armour. It came to life and slapped him in the face before falling still again. "Hey!" His hands ignited. "Well, try this on, you metal freak!"

" _Protego_ ," Hazel intoned, rubbing her head as Leo kicked and screamed inside the bubble. "Leo, stop vandalising the castle. You're so pent up."

"He slapped me first!" Leo argued. "I'm just returning the favour. It's not my fault that I happen to be able to melt him with my hands."

"Plus I'm ninety percent certain that he's missing Calypso," Piper said.

"Only ninety percent?" Percy asked.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Love is my mom's thing, not mine."

"Yeah, plus Christmas is literally three days away," Hazel said. "She said she'll IM you when she's not busy."

"I hope she's okay."

Will placed a hand on his shoulder. "She is, I'm sure."

Leo snatched a potato off Will's plate.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Shoulda eaten it if you wanted it," Leo shrugged.

Will sighed and gave up on lunch, dumping the rest of his food on the sacrificial flame in the centre of the round table. Nico looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Usually you eat more."

Will smiled slightly and leaned into his boyfriend and smiled when Nico put his arm around him. "I just feel a bit off, is all," he said.

Nico looked at him with concern. "Do you need to lie down for a bit?"

Leo groaned exaggeratedly. "Guys, seriously, if you're gonna start talking about your sex life, I suggest you get a room!"

Nico grinned wickedly and tightened his grip. "Maybe we will..."

Leo almost fell off his chair as the rest of the group laughed (although Percy was pretty sure Jason and Frank were blushing slightly).

Will beamed and sat up. "Yes! Finally you see it my way Nico!"

This time Nico was the one to blush as helpless laughter emanated from every one of his friends.

Surreptitiously, Will clenched his eyes shut and pressed a hand against them, muttering a small prayer. When he opened his eyes, the constant drumming against the inside of his skull was gone and he joined in with the conversation that had started up again.

Hazel creased her brow slightly. She never told anyone she had been practicing legilimency to help with her friend's nightmares, they wouldn't understand anyway.

And she absolutely refused to believe that the overpowering steady beats in Will's mind sounded like a countdown. Absolutely not.

—

 _Forbidden Forest, Unspecified Time:_

"Majesssty, we have returned," something hissed.

"Report?"

"Sergeant Pierce fatally wounded the Lieutenant, Queen Sess."

The queen paused for a second. "But?"

The speaker licked its lips. "But she managed to fry both him and dozens of our legion."

She snarled. "Fine then. We march on the cassstle tonight, before the lieutenant can get medical help. The Death Eatersss have shown us the ward's weaknessesss. Ssso long as we find Harry Potter and finish him, they will aid usss."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"The one time in your life you don't want to confront someone is the one time I'm advising you to. Are you kidding me?"

"Hermione, it's not like any of this information actually affects us. Harry's being smart."

"So...what? You're just going to sit around until this becomes an actual problem?"

"How can it become a problem?"

"What if they're scoping us out? What if they want to attack us? What if-"

Ron held his hands up placatingly. "Okay, okay, I get it, you win. Could be a potential problem. You're right, as always."

Hermione nodded victoriously. "Good. Now all we have to do is convince Harry."

"You know," Harry said. "Even if you're wrong and this turns out to be harmless, I do want to know more about that cult-thing. It sounds quite interesting."

"Don't agree with her if you're gonna say that!" Ron groaned. "There are going to be spiders involved. So many spiders. And potions and dungeons." He shivered. "If Snape turns up I promise I will climb into a hole and never speak to anyone ever again."

"And wouldn't that just be doing the world a favour," drawled an elegant voice from behind where the three of them sat alone in the Great Hall.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Snapped Harry without turning around. "Because you can bugger off."

The blonde took a deep breath. "Listen, Potter. I just want to apologise."

That drew Harry's attention, and Ron's disbelief.

"Apologise, Malfoy?" Ron asked, face slowly going red. "Why the hell would you of all people do that."

Malfoy's face twitched. "Not all of us are so uncivilised as to think that people don't change."

Malfoy took up the seat next to Harry, across from Ron and Hermione, slightly awkwardly and with caution, as if the three of them could lash out at him at any time.

"What would a Death Eater possibly want to change for?" Ron sneered.

Malfoy bit his lip. "Okay. I'm not gonna pretend like I haven't done some pretty horrible things in the past, and that something other than your and Professor McGonagall's statements at my trial saved me from going to Azkaban for life like my father."

Harry winced. He had stood up for Malfoy at the trial, but hadn't stayed long enough to see more than his astonished expression before leaving and not speaking more than a few words in the corridors. So it was a bit tense.

"-And if I'm honest, I am really, really thankful for that."

"You're welcome," replied Harry, surprised.

"But I've got to tell you to stop investigating Professor Jackson and his friends."

Harry tensed up immediately. "How do you know about that?"

Malfoy smiled a shattered smile masked by a sneer. "I lived with the Dark Lord in my home for more than a year. I know what it looks like to be hiding something. And I know what being curious looks like. Although in my experience it's mostly greed for power."

"How do you know him?" Hermione asked. "The professor, not Voldemort."

" _Muggleborn_ ," Malfoy carelessly said, but Harry - and he was sure Hermione also - could see how he'd completely tensed up and his hands were clenching and unclenching.

"Oi!" Ron exclaimed. "Don't speak to her like that!"

Hermione calmly placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. "Answer the question, Malfoy,"

Malfoy glanced around nervously. "Listen, I will get in loads of trouble for this, and the Roman punishments are not nice, but look."

He slowly held out his left arm and pulled up the sleeve. Ron and Hermione almost imperceptibly flinched back as the ugly mess of the Dark Mark was revealed seared onto Malfoy's skin, and Harry and to work hard not to move away.

"It's just your Dark Mark," Harry said, trying to keep his voice even and not sound disgusted.

Malfoy took a breath. "No, it's actually not a Dark Mark."

He held his hand over the tattoo and it writhed for a second, before fading away and twisting into a new shape. SPQR and a sent of scales with one line underneath. Curiously though, there was still a snake, but rather than inside a skull, it was twining it's way around Malfoy's wrist, it's tail in it's mouth and lit by two crossed flaming torches.

"What?" Hermione said. "That SPQR tattoo is the same one Percy has, except with an owl."

"Mate," Ron said, disgust leaking into his voice. "Why would you make it look like you still have the Dark Mark when you don't?"

"I do still have the Mark," Malfoy said coldly, tucking his arm back into his shirtsleeve. "It's just altered."

"Explain," Hermione ordered.

Malfoy smiled slightly. "Well, over the summer, I went the US, to my old summer camp. I'd been about to get the SPQR tattoo a few years ago, but had to return early because of...reasons."

Harry sympathised. That must have been the sixth year, when he had been forced to allow the Death Eaters into Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore. Thank Merlin that hadn't worked out.

"Except, this is a curse mark, and it drove away anyone who came near. Within a week I was ready to quit. I almost tried some...drastic measures to get rid of it. Luckily, Percy was there and he stopped me. He put me in touch with Hazel who had just returned from a... travelling, and she put me in touch with someone who could help."

"What's your point, ferret-face?" Ron asked, though his tough exterior seemed to have cracked somewhat.

"My point is," Draco said. "These are good people. Give them a chance. Stop asking about them. The more you ask, the less it'll make sense."

Draco - and sweet Merlin, when had Harry stopped referring to him as Malfoy and started to call him Draco? - got up and walked out of the Great Hall, casting only one look back over his shoulder.

"You know how vague that story was, right?" Hermione said. "He never said who removed his mark, and actually said he still had it, so why was the SPQR glamoured to look like it?"

"Okay, perhaps I wasn't motivated before," Harry said. "But if I wasn't then, I definitely am now."

"Slimy git," Ron muttered. "Y'know he never actually apologised to me. And he called Hermione a muggleborn."

"At least it wasn't mudblood," Hermione said. "And I don't think he really meant it anyway."

Harry creased his eyebrows. "He seems really...mellowed out. What do you think happened to him over the summer?"

"Other than evidently having his father thrown in Azkaban, his tattoo seared off by probably some more than painful means and replaced with a new one? Gee I don't know?"

Harry smiled. "Hermione, I never thought you would become a speaker of the obvious."

And the two boys laughed as she spluttered in outrage.

—

Draco left the Great Hall cautiously, glancing around as if someone would jump from the walls and attack him.

With good reason, because just as the door banged shut behind him, someone did jump - seemingly - out of the wall behind him and slammed him against the opposite wall in front, his arm pinned behind his back.

"What did you tell them?"

Draco let out a sigh of relief. It was only Hazel. "I didn't tell them anything. I promise."

"Really? Then why were you showing them your arm?"

Draco groaned again. "I was showing them how I'd got rid of my Dark Mark and also told them to stop investigating you guys."

"You were telling them you got rid of it?"

Draco sighed. "You know I never wanted the Dark Mark, Hazel. I never really wanted to serve the Dark Lord or let them into Hogwarts or anything. I was just telling them I got rid of it at the first opportunity I got so that they could see I've changed."

"Can I see it?"

Draco shrugged awkwardly, surprised. "Sure, but you've seen it before."

"May I see it again."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. "Can you let me go first? You've never been one for being this rough, and besides you know I can't run from you anyway."

There was no reply as the sleeve of his robe was rolled back and and cold fingers skittered over the two tattoos, tracing the letters of SPQR and then the snake wrapped around his wrist.

"Hazel? Draco called, unsure now. "Are you okay?"

" _I am not your Hazel_."

"What- oomph!" All the breath was slammed out of his lungs as he was spun around and slammed back against the wall. His vision went blurry, and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Hello godling," Hazel's voice said again.

Draco shook his head again, trying to get rid of the mugginess.

"I am not your Hazel," the not-Hazel standing over him hissed. From behind her a creature came out, padding on all fours.

"I am not Hazel either," it said in Hazel's voice. "I could be though." The voice changed to Lucius Malfoy. "And you're such a disappointment. Couldn't be loyal, couldn't impress me, just a spoiled brat."

Draco shot to his feet, reaching for his wand in his pocket.

"Don't reach for your wand," the not-Hazel said. "Don't move."

Draco froze, horrified. "Who the hell are you?"

"Don't speak," not-Hazel said.

"Don't speak," the dog parroted in Dumbledore's voice.

Draco didn't speak, heart racing, going over all the possible outcomes of this encounter; none of which ended well.

The woman-who-was-not-Hazel ran her fingers over the snake around Draco's wrist. "Such a beautiful curse," she whispered, before reverting back to a commanding voice. "Walk out through the Great Hall to the Hogwarts grounds. Go straight to the Forbidden Forest until you find the camp. Tell no-one where you're going."

Draco didn't answer, but started to move, stiffly and robotically, out the door he just came through.

Potter's head turned as he walked back through the Great Hall. "What are you doing Malfoy?" He asked. "Where are you going?"

Draco didn't stop. He couldn't stop. All he do was turn his head to the side. "Hecate's Curse," he said simply, desperately hoping that at least Granger would figure it out, or at least figure out enough to tell one of the demigods- but before he could elaborate, he snapped his head back to the task at had and walked straight out the double doors to the Forbidden Forest.

"Well that was rude," Ron said. "He didn't even slow down."

"Really?" Harry asked. "For Malfoy that's heavenly."

"What's Hecate's Curse?" Ron asked.

"Hecate was the goddess of magic in Greco-Roman mythology, but I don't know what the curse is," Hermione said. "Have you finished lunch? Let's go to the library."

"Holidays," was the only thing Harry said. "Please can we leave this until after Christmas? It's Christmas Eve! Just one more day won't hurt anybody."

Hermione faintly protested, but Harry could see she was just as tired of all this research as they two were. It didn't take much to convince her to relax.

—

Christmas morning dawned bright and early as Ron woke with great cheer at about five. In true childlike spirit, he jumped onto Harry's bed and gave him the 'wake-up-it's-Christmas-morning,-no-would-be-conquerors-to-hide-from-this-year-and-you-better-get-your-face-out-of-that-pillow-before-I-tip-cold-water-on-it' speech.

"Where's Neville?" Harry asked.

"Must've gone down to breakfast early," Ron replied. The two of them hopped out of bed and gave the same speech to Hermione via Patronus and told her to meet in the Gryffindor common room to exchange presents.

Hermione gave Ron a book about spiders with actual spiders that came out of the pages disguised as a book about butterflies (and after she had finished laughing showed him his real present - a snow globe with a tiny version of the Burrow inside and being snowed on.

"It'll change with the seasons," Hermione said. "And it will always show what the Burrow looks like at the present moment. I charmed it myself."

Ron hugged her. "Thanks 'Mione!"

Hermione smiled happily and handed over Harry's present to him. Harry unwrapped it eagerly. It was a small, dull and dented snitch.

"Okay, so you give me a snow globe you charmed yourself and you give Harry a used snitch?" Ron said. "I think you're playing favourites here."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's not just any snitch. That is the very first snitch you trained with Harry."

Harry's eyes popped. "What? No way! How did you get this?"

She shrugged. "It was easier than you'd think. All I had to do was find the exact time you were training with Oliver Wood and merge the results with tracking charms so I could locate the snitch. At first all I found were a load of golf balls, but then I realised that this snitch must've been used since then so I also had to add-"

She was interrupted by a hug. "Thank you so much Hermione," Harry said. "This means a lot to me."

She blushed slightly. "You're welcome."

"Here," Harry offered out a rectangular package, which she opened quickly.

" _The Complete Guide and History of Indian Wizarding Culture._ Oh Merlin! Thank you so much Harry!"

Ron held out his present sheepishly. "Here," he said. "I got you the complete works and biography of Agatha Christie. Since you liked mysteries so much!"

Hermione laughed. "You'll have to put up with me reading a lot over the next few months."

"Months?" Harry asked. "I'd have thought this would only have take you weeks."

"Weeks? Days," Ron disagreed. "At most."

Hermione smiled. "I think you're greatly overestimating my abilities."

"We would never dare!" Harry said. "Come on, let's go see what the house elves prepared for breakfast!"

They happily walked down to the Great Hall, stopping to wrap tinsel around the neck of a suit of armour along the way and laugh as it tried to figure out firstly what it was, and secondly how to get it off.

All in all, they arrived to the doors to the Great Hall in a joyous mood. Ron ran to the double doors and threw his shoulder against it, expecting it to swing merrily open and snowflakes to fall all around him.

All that happened was that he got a sore shoulder.

"OW! Wha—?"

Hermione ran a quick diagnostic charm on the door. "It's locked."

"No shit, Sherlock," Ron said, clutching his injured shoulder.

Hermione rolled her eyes and cast a healing charm, then raised her wand to the door. "Alohomora!"

Something inside the door clicked and it cracked open a fraction. People were shouting and... crying? Yes, that was definitely crying.

"Leo, get here with those!" Will was shouting from inside the crowd.

"Stay awake, stay awake," Piper was saying forcefully.

Will let out a growl of frustration. "Clara help me with the healing!"

"I'm primarily an archer not a healer!" A high-pitched tired sounding female voice shouted back. "And I've already used up too much power. Any more and you'll have to heal me too!"

"Ahhh! It's been too long! Why didn't you come back to the castle immediately!?"

"We couldn't, there were patrols all around!" Another of the girls said. "We gave her nectar and ambrosia and Clara did everything she could and it's lasted her this long."

"But only just," Will said grimly. "After five hours she should be dead, but because of the healing it looks like she was stung twenty minutes ago."

"That's good, right?"

"NO! By all rights she should be dead but she's nothing if not stubborn. Percy! Wet cloths! Hazel, try your spell again and for gods' sakes get those three away from the door!"

The three of them stumbled backwards as a huntress glided towards them and slammed the door in their face. It opened again quickly to reveal Leo.

"Sorry guys, Hall's out of action," he said. "House elves have laid your breakfast in History classroom 4A, all remaining students are to go there, no exceptions, and stay there until one of the teachers comes to get you. DO NOT follow a teacher unless they prove it is really them. Neville has a register, he's in charge."

Leo's head popped back inside and the door shut again.

"Ok, what?"

Harry thought that was appropriate.

—

 **And another chapter, whuh-hey! And no, I don't know what that means either.**

 **Anyway, the muse has finally come to me, I have finally got off my lazy arse and done some writing (ironically while sitting on my lazy arse), and I have already started writing the next chapter! Thinking of a flashback scene involving Draco...who knows?**

 **Please, please, please give me some feedback (even though I know that no-one reads these author's notes (I certainly don't) and leave a comment with a cookie at the end if you have read this), I love when I have people who are knowledgeable enough to correct my mistakes start reviewing (it makes me all tingly inside!)**

 **ALSO I NEED A PAIRING FOR HARRY! WHO IS IT? I mean, Ginny has barely been in the story, it can't be Ron or Hermione because they have been flirting this entire fanfic, it can't be a Percy Jackson demigod because I like their canon ships, I dislike the Snape/Harry ship, I can't disrespect Linny by shipping Luna with someone else, I thought Neville or McGonagall...but I am not going there (even if they're both pretty hot), and if I start with Drarry I am going to get WAAAY to emotionally invested...**

 **WHAT SHOULD I DO!?**

 **Anyway, enjoy Halloween in two days (two days where I am now...not sure about how long away it is for you...). Star, out!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

 _The Little Tiber was just as he remembered it. Neville only had to show the two guards at the door his tattoo and they let him past amiably, while Draco flashed his_ probatio _tablet and they subsided, glaring at him with all the menace of a Roman soldier._

 _Draco wasn't new to New Rome. It had been two years. The last time he'd been was after Fifth Year (and really the last good memories before Voldemort was killed)._

" _Remember this place?" Neville asked, breathing in the scent of the river and grass as he walked over the (newly constructed) ornate covered bridge._

" _Yeah," he replied quietly._

 _Neville gently knocked Draco's shoulder with his own. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. You'll get your tattoo this year, I know it."_

" _I wasn't worried," Draco sniffed pretentiously. "If anyone was worried it's you."_

 _Neville laughed at that. "Prissy pureblood always, huh?"_

 _Draco's eye twitched._

 _Neville winced. "Too soon? Sorry."_

" _No. NO!" Draco replied. "Don't apologise, NEVER apologise. I'm the one who should be sorry. I_ am _sorry. You wouldn't have had to go through all of that last year if not for me and my classmates. Most of those tortures the Carrows gave you last year was because of us."_

 _Neville paused and turned Draco to look at him. "Draco! Don't beat yourself up about it. You warned me when you were leaving camp two years ago. You told me not to expect us to fight on the same side."_

" _It shouldn't have happened. Doesn't matter if I warned you or not."_

" _Of course it does! I know what it's like for your family to expect things from you. Mine was willing to let me drown off Blackpool Pier if I turned out not to have magic. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been for you."_

 _Draco clenched his fist. "Don't do that."_

" _Do what?"_

" _Pity me!" Draco shouted, turning fiercely. "Everyone pities me! 'How hard it must be for poor Draco, his family have practised Dark Arts for centuries, did you know his father is in Azkaban?' Well guess what, I do know and I don't need anyone else to tell me I'm a disappointment!"_

 _He whirled around angrily and marched over the Little Tiber with steps that made even the enchanted wooden planks shake slightly._

 _He stepped out into the sunshine and marched down to the reception desk where most new arrivals were registered and assigned someone to take them to where they needed to be (which was usually the infirmary or the baths)._

 _To Draco's surprise, as he approached the squat building a hundred yards upstream where a pudgy ghost was typing on a computer (don't ask, I don't know), he saw a group of Hecate's children and followers glaring daggers at him as they walked in his direction._

 _He kept his head down. Hecate children would no doubt know everything about the wizarding world. Most of them passed without saying anything, but one girl walked up to him and shoved him out the way, almost tipping him into the Tiber. She caught him by the arm and hauled him back up, deftly rolling up his arm sleeve to expose the Dark Mark as she did so._

 _The group visibly recoiled as if it was emitting some foul odour._

" _Filthy Death Eater," she hissed, eyes flashing as if she was scared. "Crawl back to Azkaban."_

 _She dropped him unceremoniously on the ground and beat a hasty retreat, casting one fearful look over her shoulder._

 _He lay there in shock. For a second he though he might cry, but it quickly turned to hate. Which made him feel like crying again because that was what Voldemort wanted: hate._

" _Draco!"_

 _Neville was running after him. He got to his feet, brushed himself down and sneered at Neville, turning his back to instead walk up to the receptionist ghost._

" _Name," the ghost said, bored, raising one eyebrow at him, then looking at his now covered arm and looking away._

" _Draco," he sad. "Draco Malfoy."_

" _Yes I know who you are," the ghost said, gazing at his computer screen. "Reyna wants to see you."_

" _Why?"_

 _The ghost shrugged. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"_

 _The sound of wingflaps filled the air, and Draco turned to see a huge mass of feathers and claws in his face. Hippogriff! Was his first thought. His next was: Praetor!_

" _Praetor Reyna," Draco said respectfully as she dismounted the pegasus (definitely a pegasus), purple cloak of Athena shimmering and blowing in the wind._

" _Draco Malfoy," she replied regally. "I wish to speak with you." She turned to her pegasus. "Guido, please return to the stables, I need to talk to Mister Malfoy. We can go for a fly this evening."_

 _Guido nickered gently and nudged his head into Reyna's shoulder, turned and took off._

 _Draco tried not to look too intimidated by the 'talking to' he was about to get._

" _You look terrified," she commented. Drat, it wasn't working._

 _Neville ran up to the two of them. "Draco! Praetor Reyna! Senatus Populusque Romanus!" Draco realised he should have probably led with that. "What's going on?"_

" _Legionnaire Longbottom, sign in and report at the Sixth Cohort barracks," she said brusquely. "I don't expect to be questioned by you."_

 _He bobbed his head. "Yes Praetor. Sorry Praetor."_

 _She addressed Draco again. "Come with me."_

 _He followed her gingerly. They walked in silence up to Temple Hill. He was a bit out of breath and slightly sweaty from the heat of summer but she hadn't even a hair out of place, let alone sweat._

 _She turned sharply as they crested the hill. "Let me see," she ordered._

" _See?"_

" _Your mark. Let me see it."_

 _Draco bit his lip. He didn't want to show her his Dark Mark, but she was staring at him intently, as if she were looking into his soul._

 _Gingerly he lifted his sleeve. She studied it silently._

" _I don't know much about the magical arts," she said "And what I do know is that they are closely guarded. Since I heard about what happened over the last two years, I spoke to the Hecate kids."_

 _Draco's throat was so dry it felt like it was flaking. "What- what did they say?"_

" _That you're evil," she replied conversationally. "I haven't had an extended conversation with you since Neville first brought you here- how many years ago?"_

" _It was after Fourth Year, so three years ago."_

 _Reyna nodded. "And as I recall, the year after - the summer of your fifth year, if I'm correct - you saved Neville and earned your stripe."_

" _I didn't get my stripe," he blurted out. "I had to leave early."_

" _I know. You haven't been back since."_

" _Praetor-"_

 _Reyna shook her head. "Wait. I know you think you will get your tattoo this year, since you didn't two years ago, but from my experience, a lot can happen in two years, and it can change people. I went from being a spa attendant to a pirate in the space of two months."_

" _You don't have to," Draco said quickly, a blind panic settling in. "I can re-earn it-"_

" _Let me finish," she snapped. "Firstly, your Dark Mark is a curse mark, binding you too your previous master. At the moment the loose end where Voldemort once was is healing over, so to speak. We cannot burn over it or risk ripping the other end out and your magic leaking out and you dying of magic loss."_

" _That could happen?"_

' _Reyna shrugged. "According to Hecate, and she's a goddess."_

 _Draco felt a bit sick. "Can't you get rid of it without my magic bleeding away?"_

" _I can't, but Hecate can."_

 _For a moment he felt relieved, like the weight of the world was off his shoulders._

" _But she won't."_

 _The weight was back, heavier than before as the knowledge that a goddess (and the goddess he followed no less) despised him crushed him from the inside out._

" _In her eyes," Reyna continued stoically, despite the fact that Draco knew she knew what he was feeling. "You have committed a grave sin by taking that Mark."_

" _I just want to be rid of it!" He said. "I don't care if I never cast another spell for the rest of my life, I just want to get rid of it!"_

" _It's not the mark itself," Reyna said, confusing him yet more. "It's definitely not the so-called dark arts, most of Hecate's followers - at least in camp - know at least one dark spell and many have extensive knowledge. It's the vow you took with the mark. That you would eradicate magic in some people. To swear to destroy your kin is a grave misuse of the gifts that she gave you. I'm sorry."_

 _He felt like his throat was swelling up, like he wanted to scream and curse and wipe the gods off this planet, like he wanted to wipe himself off this planet._

" _I'll leave," he said quietly, already thinking of the Malfoy Manor with only his mother and the paintings that shouted abuse at him. "Soon. I didn't have any stuff anyway."_

" _Did I say you could leave?"_

 _His eyebrows creased._

" _Just because you cannot permanently join the legion does not mean you should leave. You are close friends with Neville, right? He stood for you. I'm sure you can be_ on probatio _for as long as he agrees."_

 _Draco felt a pang of gratefulness towards Reyna, and was immediately struck with shame. He shouldn't want to stay away from the wizarding world and his mother alone in a house full of dark arts. He should be there, supporting her._

 _But all he wanted to do was escape._

" _I... I accept," he said._

 _Reyna smiled. "Good. As far as I can tell, you aren't at all what the Hecate kids said. I always make my own judgements, and often it pays off."_

" _Thank you for giving me a chance."_

" _I must warn you, it won't be easy."_

 _Draco bit his lip. He knew. But whatever was served up at Camp, would be a hundred times worse at home. The Daily Prophet had been commenting on him and the rest of Slytherin almost every day. McGonagall and Potter's sanity was questioned in why he would side with him, and every time he went out, a curse managed to find it's way to his person._

 _There were only two or three dozen followers, children or descendants of Hecate in active service at that moment. It was better to stay._

—

The Great Hall was in uproar as professors, hunters and demigods rushed around in a panic. A small group was gathered around one of the tables - probably the Hufflepuff one though it was hard to tell - where about six hunters were laying on the table, and many more were nursing cuts and broken bones on the tables around.

Madame Pomfrey and Will were at the centre of the hurricane, a calm eye in the middle of the storm, trying their best to heal Thalia, who was suffering from manticore poisoning, made worse by the amount of time they had had to wait before bringing her here.

Leo felt useless. He was mostly just door duty. Every now and then someone would give him an order and he would scamper off and bring them what they needed but there were so many other people it was really pot luck on who was chosen.

Leo perked up as he heard Piper's voice echo across the hall forcefully. "Stay awake! Thalia, do you hear me? Do not fall asleep!"

Any sleepy faces disappeared. Piper was so strong now, it was sometimes scary.

"Piper!" Leo heard Jason exclaim. He couldn't see what was happening. "Piper are you okay?"

"Get her out of here!" Will told him. "She's too weak from the pregnancy, she'll only get weaker!"

The crowd parted as Jason and Piper came through, Piper leaning heavily on him.

"Leo!" Jason called. "Help me with Piper!"

Leo rushed forwards and took Piper's other arm. She sagged gratefully.

"I never thought pregnancy would sap this much energy from the daughter of love," she quipped tiredly. "Jason, stay behind, you need to be with your sister."

Jason spared time for one sidewise glance at Leo. "Okay, Leo take her to the classroom with the students. She'll be safe there."

Leo nodded and Jason ran back to the crowd. "Come on Beauty Queen," he said. "You need to rest."

—

Getting to the classroom mainly consisted of asking paintings where to go. The room was warded by a paranoid old history teacher (before Binns' time), which was why it was being used now.

Hermione, Harry and Ron were sitting in a corner and talking quietly and urgently under their breath. A small Ravenclaw first year was talking to two Hufflepuff second years and a Gryffindor third year in an animated voice, and the older students seemed to humouring him with slow, thoughtful nods.

A couple of Slytherin third years were sitting in silence at the front, staring at a Gryffindor fifth year who was trying to balance a pencil on her nose - to the embarrassment of her seventh year Hufflepuff boyfriend next to her.

The only other people were a haughty-looking Ravenclaw girl and a timid Hufflepuff boy.

When they arrived, Neville (looking frazzled) took their names down and cast a cushioning charm on a chair, telling Piper to sit down and relax. "I don't know how professors do it," he said. "This is so stressful."

"Calm down," Piper said gently, "Take a deep breath."

Neville smiled and his tense shoulders relaxed. "Thank you."

"Whoa!" Leo said to her. "Don't use charmspeak! Jason will kill me!"

Piper smiled. "Of course. Just don't tell him."

Leo would refuse anyone's claims that Piper didn't have a devious side. But then again his cause would be helped if he could remember any examples of this side of her.

"Are you okay?"

Leo turned to see a bushy haired girl coming up. Hannah...Harriet... was that her name? It was something complicated, something unusual.

"Harpsichord!" Leo said. "Don't worry, Pipes is fine, just pregnancy weakness."

Hermione looked confused. "Hi, we haven't met, my name's Hermione."

"Hermione, nice to meet you," Leo said quickly. "I wasn't calling you Harpsichord, just to clarify. That's just a greeting I sometimes use. Like, 'hey, harpsichord are you?' sort of thing."

He internally cringed and Piper snorted loudly.

"Hi," Hermione said unsurely. "Leo, is it? I can cast some calming charms if you want."

"Don't worry about it," Piper said. "I'm fine."

Neville looked over his list carefully and frowned. "Everyone! Please be quiet, I need to go over this again."

There was immediate silence.

"Are Alex Beringue and Nancy Louise from Ravenclaw here?" He asked.

"We're here," the haughty girl answered, the small boy nodding along.

Neville ticked twice. "Rosemary Adler and Tyler Fougère from Gryffindor?"

The girl with the pencil on her nose nodded and the one listening to the Ravenclaw answered "Present!"

Neville nodded. "Okay, Hermione- yes, me- yes, Harry- yes, Ron- yes. That's everyone from Gryffindor. Charles Craven from Hufflepuff?"

The girl-with-the-pencil-on-her-nose's boyfriend nodded.

"Archibald Drew? Natasha Highland?"

The two listening to the Ravenclaw boy nodded.

"And Benjie Port?"

The timid Hufflepuff nodded.

Neville seemed to get more agitated. "Raven McLaggen and Eftihia X...ze-nak..?"

"Eftihia Xenakis," one of the Slytherins corrected. "Se-na-kis. We're both here."

Neville nodded. "Draco's still not here," he muttered under his breath. "Raven, Eftihia, have you seen Draco Malfoy?"

Eftihia shook her head. "He's four years above us and a boy. We're not allowed in the boy's dorms."

"Anyone else seen him?"

"Not since yesterday afternoon," Harry said. "He wasn't at dinner."

Neville bit his lip. "Raven, Eftihia, you're only Third Year, you can't go looking for him, I need to keep everyone together."

"Neville, we'll go," Harry suggested. "We'll check out the Slytherin dorms."

"Thank you," Neville said, looking relieved.

"I'll go too," Leo offered. "I'm good in a sticky situation!"

Neville looked worriedly at Piper. She glared.

"I'm not an invalid it's because I'm pregnant, Longbottom!" She said heatedly. "Send Leo, I'm perfectly fine."

Rosemary (the girl with the pencil on her nose) gave a miniature round of applause and wolf-whistled appreciatively. Her boyfriend sighed and looked anywhere but at Piper.

"The password is Merlin562," Raven said quietly.

"Thank you," Harry said. "Ron, Hermione, are you coming?"

"Actually," Neville interrupted. "Could you two - Ron and Hermione - go down to the Great Hall and check whether he's there, or if anyone has seen him? Don't ask more than one person though, they're very busy."

Hermione nodded and headed off with Ron. Harry looked sideways at Leo (whose hands were fiddling with something inside his tool belt) and started out the door.

"You'll have to lead me," Leo said. "I don't have a clue where we're going."

"The dungeons," Harry replied. "Underneath the lake."

"Cool," Leo replied happily.

They walked in silence for a while, corridors that all looked the same merging into one long hallway dotted with paintings and suits of armour. Leo took out a piece of wire and started to twist it absentmindedly.

Harry broke the silence. "So...what's your deal?"

Leo shrugged. "I dunno. I'm only here because Percy invited me. The only thing I know is that this is a magic school. I tuned out after ten seconds in the meeting. Hazel was mad."

"She's a witch, isn't she," Harry asked. "She had a wand."

"Uh-huh. But I think she prefers the term sorcerer or enchantress."

"Not sorceress?"

Leo shrugged. "I think it's because she says that magic has no labels. She doesn't like being called a magician's assistant though." He rubbed his head. "To be fair, I kind of had that coming."

Harry agreed. He wouldn't want to be called a magician's assistant either.

The two of them stepped onto a staircase and stood still as it swung around and deposited them into a corridor on the opposite wall, before sinking down and coming to rest at the entrance to a third hallway.

Leo looked down. "There are safety mechanisms, right?"

Harry nodded. "Oh yeah. Loads of people try to slide down the banisters, so there are a whole load of cushioning charms at the bottom for when they fall. Plus sometimes you get on the wrong staircase so some people try to jump across to another while it's still moving. Often falling."

"You need to label the things," Leo muttered. "Better yet, install elevators."

"Most of the time it's fine," Harry said nonchalantly, leading Leo to the right.

The wide corridor tapered off into a narrow, low doorway some meters ahead, and a suit of armour was standing with it's knees slightly bent so it's head didn't knock on the ceiling.

"Does the whole house have to come through here whenever they need to get back to their dorms?" Leo asked, ducking under the frame. "Seems dumb."

"Nah, this is just a shortcut," Harry answered. "Most people never come down here, but it's a great way to get from History to the Great Hall quickly."

Just through the low doorway the corridor turned sharply to the left and there was a rectangular hole in the wall, covered by the back of a large canvas. Harry went up and knocked three times. The canvas swung open outwards like a door and let the two out into the intersection of three spacious corridors that Leo vaguely recognised.

He saw a half-melted suit of armour. "Hey! I know this place!"

"Yeah, the Great Hall is just down there," Harry pointed to his left.

Leo frowned suddenly. "But..." he ran the schematics through his head. "This is three floors below us... How did that happen? Was that corridor a slope? Even so it was far to short to get us down this low..."

"Magic."

"I got that," he grumbled.

Harry cracked a smiled at Leo's disturbed expression. "After seven years you get used to it," he justified. "Plus I have a map that show all the corridors of Hogwarts, even the secret ones. It's really useful."

"Where can I get one?" Leo said eagerly.

"It's unique."

"Even better."

"Not up for sale."

"Spoilsport."

Harry laughed. By this time they were down deeper and the walls were grey and damp. Harry stopped sharply. "Here we are."

"Er, Harry...it's just a wall."

His lip's twitched. "Merlin562," he spoke.

The wall shifted and parted, revealing a hidden room.

"Whoa! Nice!" Leo exclaimed, placing his hand on the wall. "And no mechanics either. Magic is so weird."

Harry rolled his eyes and led him down to the green lit common room full of plush armchairs and tables, the fireplace burning with a sickly yellow flame.

Leo looked around approvingly. "Nice furniture. Do you know where they got it? I need some armchairs for Bunker 9."

"Most of it is probably old and was donated to the school," he said. "I think the dorms are this way."

Harry led them down a corridor to the right where there was a set of stairs. As they were about to take a step down an invisible force propelled them backwards and they landed with a thump on the thick carpet.

"That's the girl's rooms," Harry said. "No boys allowed."

"Couldn't they have gone with a less violent way of saying 'no boys'? Like, perhaps a sign?"

Harry laughed. "Hogwarts really should invest in signs. It would make everyone's lives so much easier."

They headed down the other corridor on the right and to a set of stairs. After a brief debate, they took the set of stairs up (there was also a staircase going down) and came out on a landing with a row of doors, each with a metal plaque engraved with names.

None of them had Malfoy written on them. There was one more staircase up and the two took it, going right up to the topmost room. There was one door and on it was a metal sheet with only one name written on it: Draco Malfoy.

"He gets a dorm alone?" Harry asked incredulously. "Most seventh years do, usually, but with the amount of students coming in we all have to share because no-one would allow their children to be educated in England while the threat of Voldemort was still around. So now a whole bunch of students have come back."

"Maybe there are less Slytherins," Leo suggested.

Harry rumbled in his throat discontentedly. He knew that was true, but there were still enough to warrant sharing. He pushed the door open.

It was a sparse, small room, bathed in murky green and normal light, for the window was only half submerged while the other half was above water level. It was sparse and tasteful. Minimal amount of green and a lot of heavy wooden furniture.

There was a desk and a shelf, a wardrobe and a small, single bed, as well as a door that Harry presumed lead off to the bathroom.

"Malfoy?" Harry called. No answer. He opened the door to the bathroom. Empty. So was the wardrobe, which Leo checked.

"He's not here," Leo said, rustling through one of the desk's draws.

"Umm, maybe you shouldn't do that," Harry said.

"Don't worry, nothing can surprise me, I've been through everyone's draws on the Argo III. And believe me, there are some dodgy things..."

He stopped rustling and came out with a piece of paper. "What's this?"

Harry's throat constricted. It was a newspaper clipping. There was a large moving picture, a smaller one in the corner and the headline read ' _Death Eater Sentenced to Azkaban for Life Imprisonment by Hero Boy-Who-Lived.'_

Leo frowned. "That small picture, that's you isn't it? And that big one looks like Draco..."

Harry shook his head. "No...no that's his father, Lucius Malfoy."

"What's Azkaban?"

"The wizard prison."

"It says here that you testified against him in court and that was the tipping point that put him in prison. For life. Something about only just avoiding being kissed for heinous crimes... It goes on about your heroic deeds for two paragraphs... You dated a lot of girls."

"Most of it is a lie," he said.

"What about the bit on Draco's father?"

Harry turned away and inspected a shelf covered in knick-knacks.

"Sorry about Ginny."

Harry gritted his teeth and turned away even further. Leo took the hint and replaced the clipping, continuing to go through the draw until he came across something interesting. He lifted it out and breathed loudly.

"Harry, you might want to see this."

It was a digital clock, silver and sleek. On top were the elegantly engraved words: ' _Draco Malfoy is presently'_ , but instead of showing the time on the screen, in luminous orange chunky letters that scrolled across it read: 'IN DANGER - HECATE'S CURSE!'

—

 **A/N: Whoa that was a fun chapter to write! I feel so evil...**

 **I've decided on a pairing, but for the sake of dramatic tension I will not reveal it.**

 **Thanks to those who have reviewed, as well as two Guest reviewers who have pointed out the major plot flaws especially in the first chapter (I didn't realise until I posted it that Snape was actually killed by Nagini, then I was too lazy to change it), so I have plans to MAJORLY revamp the story and fix all the plot holes. Probably only once I finish though.**

 **Also, I made an error in the last chapter: I wrote that Draco's tattoo was an owl, when he's actually a son of Nemesis so it should be a set of scales. My bad, all fixed (hopefully), tell me if it's still wrong.**

 **Many Thanks,**

 **Yours in Demigodishness,**

— **Star, xoxo**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

The worst part was the hallucinations, dizziness and nausea...probably concussion when he thought about it.

Actually, scratch that, the worst part was knowing exactly where he was and that no-one would find him, perhaps because this place was warded, but more likely because they wouldn't want to.

The concussion was a close second though.

Through the fog he heard voices. There was also the dog animal thing again, and he had just about the sense of mind to realise that the voices were coming from it. Although, now he looked again, did those dogs have...hooves? And red fur with black lips...

Draco decided he would call it Snape. Because it was a mixture of horse and wolf. He wasn't quite sure why he thought that was funny though...

"I wish you a merry Christmas uncle," it said happily in a boy's voice, which changed to a snarling, gravely one on the next. "I despise Christmas."

"Oh really?" Draco asked deliriously. "I can't see the point of it myself..."

The wolf-horse that Draco had named Snape changed to Lucius Malfoy's voice. "Of course you can't, you can never see anything. You could never impress me, call yourself a Malfoy, you're nothing but a mudblood desperate for attention."

And Draco couldn't quite figure out why that hurt so much.

His vision was darkening, and he was slipping in and out on consciousness.

—

" _Hey, Draco?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _Good luck. I'm gonna miss you."_

 _Draco's face remained stony as he packed his bags. Neville hopped down from his bunk and went over._

" _It's a shame you didn't get your stripe..."_

" _It's a shame that Camp Jupiter doesn't protect its augurs more, or ours wouldn't be in a coma for another week," he said imperiously with a sniff._

 _Neville regarded him dubiously. "Draco! She was seriously injured from that fire, you can't blame her for that!" He sighed. "Just because you're sore about not getting your stripe doesn't mean you have to take it out on everyone else..."_

 _Draco continued folding shirts into his magically expanded suitcase. "I'm not mad at her."_

" _Oh really? Then why have you been so morose for the last month?"_

 _Draco put down the shirt he was holding and tuned to the other boy. "Neville. You're a fool if you think that I'm ever coming back, okay? It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to figure out why I'm going away, and it takes even less to clock why I'll never come back."_

 _Neville shrugged. "Hey, anything's better than Umbridge."_

 _He didn't answer._

" _Come on, Draco, talk to me."_

 _Draco finished folding up shirts and moved on to his trousers._

" _Why won't you answer?"_

" _Everyone knows, now, don't they? About He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named? That Potter was always telling the truth?"_

 _Neville's eyebrows raised. "I should think so, yeah."_

" _Then you know there's a war brewing."_

 _Neville nodded._

 _There was a silence with only the rustling of clothes folding._

" _Draco? Do you want to say something?"_

 _He paused. "Listen, Neville. You're friends with Potter. You know that there are two sides in this war...and I can't promise we'll be on the same one. At this point I can't promise you anything. This time next year all of Hogwarts will despise me, and if this is my last opportunity, I just wanted to take this chance to say, I really enjoyed having a friend."_

" _Draco-"_

 _Draco checked his watch, picked up a small figurine of a snake and braced himself, turning back to Neville. "Don't talk to me again. And if we meet after today, I will treat you like any other muggle, mudblood or blood traitor that crosses my path."_

 _Neville blinked at the sudden change in tone._

" _And," Draco continued, clicking his suitcase shut, "if it becomes necessary, I will kill you."_

 _Neville looked shocked and horrified as the uncomfortable, dizzying sensation of portkeying took hold, and Draco was transported away._

—

"Feed him, I want him alive!"

"You do not order me around, powerlessss witch."

"I am not powerless yet, do not think to mock me, snake."

"My apologiessss, would you prefer the term vampire, Madame Fae? Weak without your masssster?"

"I have more power than you, Sess!"

The dracaena all around surged forward, brandishing spears and teeth at the woman who had spoken. Said woman, tall and thin with straight black hair and slanted, shining eyes was ignoring the angry queen and was instead focusing on the tied up demigod.

"We only need to keep him alive," Sess said. "He doesn't need to be in good health, he's only a hosssstage. Or do you have other plansss, Fae?"

"Always," Fae answered with a sickly smile. She took hold of Draco's limp wrist and held it up for Sess to see.

"What?" Sess asked. "Magic was never my ssstrong ssssuit."

"Wake up," Fae ordered the unconscious demigod. With a jerk, he woke up.

"What-... what?"

Fae surged forwards and pressed something to his lips, pressing it inside and holding a cold hand against his mouth as he thrashed against the rope tethering him to a tree. "Swallow," she ordered.

Draco obeyed with no hesitation and coughed as it burned his throat. He felt immediately better, the fog and ringing in his ears receding.

"Who are you, witch?" He gasped. "And what the hell's that wolf?"

Fae looked delighted. "I am Fae, only a former servant of Hecate. I'm sure she'll notice I'm gone in, I don't know, two decades, maybe three. But that's the way gods are, isn't it. You've never even met your mother."

The wolf prowled around Fae's legs. "Could never catch the attention of your mother," it said in Hazel's voice. "But then again, you couldn't even impress you mortal father, so who's surprised?"

Draco's voice was caught in his throat. "What is that?" he forced out. "How can it mimic voices?"

"You don't need to know," it whispered in Dumbledore's voice. "You are only a puppet. All puppets have to do is obey. Pity you couldn't even do that."

Draco felt like he was drowning, slowly falling under a cascade of voices telling him he was worthless, expendable, disappointing, traitorous, cowardly. Something to be used and then tossed away. Pushed to be better, to study harder, learn more spells, only to be beaten down, mocked and insulted, yet still expected to do everything he was told.

"Get away from me!" He hissed, eyes burning. "I refuse to do anything you say, you ugly monster. You're nothing but a filthy, disgusting traitor who hasn't been caught yet. And when you are, I swear I will have a front row seat to watch you burn."

He glared maniacally and spat in her face, even though a little voice in his head reminded him of all the times those exact words had been aimed at him.

Fae's eyes were burning. No, literally burning. As in, they were on fire.

"You, demigod," she whispered calmly, despite her blazing eyes. With an elegant swipe she slashed needle-sharp talons along Draco's face, watching as blood started to pour out of the five cuts. With her other hand she grabbed him by the throat and started to squeeze, cutting off his pained screams.

"Fool!" She said. "You have no choice but to obey me. You're more of a puppet now then you've ever been. I thought you would join us when I first saw you, clever as I thought you were, but now I realise what an ignorant child you are."

He fell unconscious soon after.

—

"Oh gods. We gotta find Hazel," Leo said. "This is bad. Bad with a capital 'B'."

Harry cocked his head. "Okay, what is Hecate's Curse? I've heard of it..."

Leo turned and grabbed him by the shoulders, eyes wide, and started skating him. "Where? Where did you hear that?"

"Draco mentioned it yesterday, why?"

Leo put his chin in his hand and shuffled around. "Oh gods... We need to get to Hazel."

He turned with urgency and raced out of the small bedroom, down the narrow staircase, through the corridor of the boys' bedrooms and into the Slytherin Common Room. He got about as far as three steps down the dungeon corridor before he acknowledged Harry was behind him.

"Harry... Where's the Great Hall again?"

—

 _Draco could feel the stares. They seemed to be everywhere he went. The ghosts were the worst. Everywhere he went they would either deliberately move out of his way and go around or just glide straight through him as if he weren't there, ice cold._

 _He wasn't sure which one he like better, but the messages were clear._

 _But other than that, and the Hecate kids and followers, life continued as normal. He had a fair number of friends - though none he'd seen for the last couple of years - and they greeted him back jovially, though it was difficult explaining why he was still on probatio without telling them about the wizarding world._

 _And there was the crux of the problem._

 _There were explicit orders from both Olympus and the Ministry of Magic that in the case of a magical demigod they could reveal nothing about one world to the other, with the exception of certain important people like Reyna, Chiron and the oracles/augurs._

 _Well, it would be hard keeping it a secret from them anyway._

 _And it went without question that all the demigods asked nothing of the followers of Hecate (mostly because they were terrified of them) and when they were angry at someone or something then the whole camp was angry right alongside them._

 _Which was a bad thing for Draco._

 _The stares and the whispers just wouldn't leave him alone. Rumour was spreading fast and in many different versions. Most agreed that he was someone to be avoided due to being evil, murderous, abusive of his powers etc., though there were a few that suggested ridiculous things like he was the lover of the devil he had summoned._

 _Needless to say a lot of the campers were mildly ill-informed._

 _But it was still harrowing to know that this was the better option. That back in England in the Wizarding World he would've been further and publicly ostracised by the press and...well...everyone._

 _Not that it was that much better in camp. At least if he was in England he could hole himself up in the thoroughly cleaned out and guarded Malfoy Manor, whereas here he had no choice but to be dragged out of the Sixth Cohort cabin to participate in the activities._

 _Gods, he wished he'd chosen the right side._

—

"It's a curse."

"I think we got that."

Hazel glared at Harry. "Do you want me to find him?

Harry discontentedly looked away. He was in the Great Hall with the demigods and Hunters. Will had finished his healing, and they were all just settling in to wait and see what happened. There was nothing more they could do, and a hush had fallen over them as they waited, with only Hazel's strong voice being heard as she explained what was happening.

"It isn't especially complicated to cast, but it needs the permission of both parties, which means it isn't technically a curse, but from an outsiders point of view it. Can be seen as a curse because in the past people have been tricked into accepting it."

"What does it actually do?" Jason asked.

"Okay, so the Dark Mark was placed by Voldemort, but it isn't just a tattoo. It is, in effect, a tether that ties the wearer's soul to the master, letting the master have control over the wearer's magic and, basically, soul. Voldemort had a lot of followers, which was why he was so powerful. That's why anyone with the mark can summon Voldemort, why any spell he casts on people with the curse is much more potent than normal, and why it never fades."

Harry fidgeted restlessly. "Great, can you get to the point?"

"When Voldemort died the tether was only tied at one end, the tattoo a physical manifestation of that bond. It was flapping restlessly without a master. The magic that had been flowing into Voldemort was now leaking out, making Draco and the other Death Eaters weaker than normal. Over the summer, he begged our...patron, to get rid of the tattoo because it was a constant reminder of his mistakes. So, she transferred the curse to a new master."

"Was this 'patron', called Hecate?"

Behind Harry the demigods shifted uncomfortably. Percy sent a silent question to Annabeth, whether or not they could tell Harry about the gods. She replied with a stony 'no'.

"Yeah."

Harry hummed discontentedly. "So Draco was controlled by Hecate?"

"Not just Hecate. See, she is über powerful, and still angry that he would use his gift against other magic bearers, and a bit worried he would do it again, so, just in case, she split the end so it linked to any magic-user with the right knowledge."

"The right knowledge?"

"Knowledge of our patron. It's a secret. It's partly punishment, but also partly used in case he reverts back to his previous ways."

Harry's face hardened. "You think he's actually gone rogue? Is working against us? We were warned so that we could _leach his magic_?"

"No!" Hazel said, "you didn't hear the end. To more easily subdue him if he did revert to his old ways, she amplified the power of the tether so that any follower with the right knowledge could outright control him with just words."

Harry started pacing. "So he's been kidnapped."

"Harry..." Frank went to put a hand on Harry's shoulder, but Harry paced off again.

"But he only wanted to get rid of the mark, why bother with this curse?"

"Like I said, punishment," Hazel replied. "But a neat side-effect is that the mark changes to reflect the master. That's why at the moment it is a snake crossed by torches rather than a skull. It doesn't seem like much, but it's the first step to being forgiven."

"Why would he want to be forgiven?"

"Hecate is...basically a god, in our society. The loose end of the tether is slowly healing. She can remove the tattoo, and the curse, but only she, and only when she's forgiven him. If it goes, it's a sign he can have a fresh start."

Harry breathed. "So he's being controlled."

"Most likely there's someone with the right knowledge on their side. That's why he put up no resistance."

"He's being controlled," Harry said again, sitting down on a bench. "Even if he wanted to fight them, he can't. We've got to rescue him. I'll get Hermione and Ron, we can help."

Hazel exchanged looks with the other demigods.

Annabeth sighed with her eyes. 'Fine', she replied wearily to their pleading gazes.

"Harry," Hazel said. "There's something you should know about the things we're fighting. It relates to my patron, Hecate, and to where Draco and Neville went over summer vacation. I'm sure you researched the Greek gods..."

—

 **A/N: So, for a while I lost sight of where this story was going. I now know, and at this point I'm just going to finish it, and then go back and revise it - else I'll repost the story then delete the old one. I'm sorry for being rubbish at updating, but hopefully now I can be more regular (slightly).**


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